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H. M. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 



AROUND AND ABOUT 



SOUTH AMERICA 



TWENTY MONTHS OE QUEST AND QUERY 




FRANK VINCENT 



author op 

'the land of the white elephant," "through and through the tropics, 

"norsk, lapp, and finn," " in and out of central america," 

"actual africa," 

joint author of "the lady of cawnpore," etc. 



WITH MAPS, PLANS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



FIFTH EDITION 




&Q. 



NEW YOKE 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1895 



Copyright, 1890, 1895, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



y^ 




TO 

H. M. DOM PEDRO II., 

EMPEROR OF BRAZIL, 

SCHOLAR AND SCIENTIST, PATRON OF ARTS AND LETTERS, 

STERLING STATESMAN AND MODEL MONARCH, 

WHOSE REIGN OF HALF A CENTURY HAS BEEN ZEALOUSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY 

DEVOTED TO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE, 

AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE VAST AND OPULENT 

"EMPIRE OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS," 

THIS WORK IS, BY SPECIAL PERMISSION, 

MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 

BY HIS MAJESTY'S HUMBLE AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, 

THE AUTHOR 



PREFACE 



My recent journey through South America included 
visits to all the capitals, chief cities, and important sea- 
ports ; expeditions into the interior of Brazil and the Ar- 
gentine Republic ; and ascents of the Parana, Paraguay, 
Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena Rivers. It covered about 
thirty-five thousand miles, and forced me to realize that 
our great southern continent contains twice the area and 
half the population of the United States. 

It has been my aim and aspiration to grasp salient feat- 
ures and emphatic characteristics, and to delineate them 
with a careful conciseness that shall beget a correct and 
lively general impression. 

The difficulty of carrying out this design within so com- 
paratively small a space will at once be perceived by the 
discriminating reader, and will, I hope, induce him to 
extend to the present volume the same leniency which both 
press and public have bestowed upon my former contribu- 
tions to the universal and ever incomplete library of travel, 
adventure, and discovery. 

Postscript. — The unexpected change of government in 
Brazil, which has just occurred, found this narrative already 
in type, and hence it is published as originally written. 
Nothing, however, has been asserted of the Empire which 



vi PREFACE. 

ought to be revoked ; while for the Republic one should 
not vouch until time and trial have demonstrated its fit- 
ness and stability. 

In the words of Dom Pedro, " I shall always have kindly 
remembrances of Brazil and hopes for its prosperity." 

F. V~. 

Nkw York, November, 1S89. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 



CHAPTER I. 

OUTWARD BOUND. 

The Acapulco's lonely voyage — San Salvador is now Watling Island — Aspin- 
wall Harbor and the town itself — The French town of Christophe 
Colomb — Fever, filth, and flood — South American revolutions — How 
ringleaders are treated — Features of the railway to Panama — M. de 
Lesseps's interoceanic canal — French settlements and mammoth excava- 
tions — Wages of laborers — The canal might possibly have been com- 
pleted in the year 2013 — Hacks at Panama — General characteristics 
of the town— Matters of interest to the archaeologist and architect — 
Cosmopolitan population — Ici l'on parle Francais, and also English — 
A newspaper in three languages 

CHAPTER II. 

ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 

Muskets and cutlasses give piratical remedies — Panama Railway extortion 
paralleled — My first attempts in Spanish — They fail beyond my most 
sanguine expectations — Reptiles and birds in the Galapagos Islands — 
Why species unknown to other parts of the world exist there — An 
Ecuadorian Botany Bay — Variation upon Alexander Selkirk — Scenes 
in the Gulf of Guayaquil — Features of the town of that name — Sample- 
rooms and senoritas — Preparations for going over the Andes to Quito 
— Advantage of taking your board and lodging with you — How Guay- 
aquil fever affects one — Chimborazo by moonlight — Ecuador's only 
railway — Traversing tropic jungles at the rate of ten miles an hour — 
Forests impenetrable even to sight — Puerile muleteers and gentle 
mules — Other qualities of the Ecuadorian animal — Two soups for din- 
ner — Lack of culinary cleanliness ....... 

CHAPTER III. 

OVER THE CORDILLERA. » 

The seven racial varieties in South America — Indian population of Quito 
—Intense cold experienced at night — The ruined city Latacunga — A 



viii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

two million dollar road — Shivering on the equator — A diligence drawn 
by mules — Brutality of postilions — Volcanoes along the route — The ap- 
proach to Quito — Complexions and costumes there — Architectural 
traits — The women and their mantillas — Democracy in church wor- 
ship — Army uniform — Lucifer in state presiding over the tortures of 
Avernus 19 

CHAPTER IV. 

QUITO PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 

System of the Andes — Situation of Quito — Rectangular arrangement of 
the streets — Climate — Peculiarities of the cemeteries — The penitentiary 
— Strange manner of apportioning justice — Ecuadorian vicissitudes — 
Market produce — Congressional buildings — Monasteries of Quito — A 
paradise for priests, a pandemonium for the public — Religious paint- 
ings — Effigies of the virgin — Unique furniture — America unrepresented 
in Quito — Foreigners in business — Place they hold in society — Apa- 
thetic natives — Importance of investing in real estate — Hard and soft 
dollars — Depreciation of the paper money of Quito — No foreign phy- 
sicians there — Telegrams paid in postage-stamps . . . .28 

CHAPTER V. 

BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 

Quito's hospital — Lung and throat troubles prevalent — Lunatics and lepers 
— Educational opportunities — Pichincha, or the boiling mountain — 
View frcm the summit — Difference between the Andes and the Hima- i 
layas — Brother volcanoes of Pichincha — Detailed description of it — ' 
A good breakfast is not less good inside its crater — Returning to Guay- 
aquil — Violence of tropical rains — Bad roads — Abruptness of the land- 
scape changes — Plantations alternate with jungles — Chicha, guarapo, 
and sugar-cane juice contrasted — Military bands at Bodegas . . 3*7 

CHAPTER VI. 

COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 

Approach to Payta — Appearance of the dilapidated town — Rich inland 
country — The railway to Piura — The coast of Peru and Bolivia — De- 
scription of a balsa — A few small villages — Memories of Incas — Pacas- 
mayo — Samanco — Views on the Pacasmayo — Comparison with Nor- 
wegian scenes — Casma and Supe — The town of Huacho — Foreign 
merchants — Callao — Appearance of the roadstead — Interior of the city 
— English and American railways — Lima — A national anniversary — 
Lima ladies — Horse-races— General Iglesias — General Caceres — Rev- 
olutions smoldering beneath public festivities 45 



CONTENTS. ix 

CHAPTER VII. 

LIMA. 

PAGK 

The famous cathedral — General appearance of this celebrated building — 
Its interior — Poor carvings and paintings — Pizarro's bones — View of 
the city from Cerro de San Cristobal — Tram-cars and hackney-coaches 
— Roofs and balconies — Uninflammable brick — The fire-brigades — 
Houses of Congress — Statue of General Bolivar — Hall of Senators — 
Hall of Deputies — Principal market — National Library — Column of the 
2d of May, in memory of the Peruvians who fell in the battle of 
Callao Bay in 1866 — The 2d of May hospital, an institution any 
country might be proud of — The Oroya Railway — Revolutionary com- 
plications — Circulating mediums — The mint — The Esmeralda — Alame- 
da de los Descalzos — The general cemetery, or Panteon . . .53 

CHAPTER VIII. 

GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS. 

Lima's public gardens — Pavilion of the President — Promenade ground of 
the Lima belles — Residences of the wealthy — Advantage of one-story 
houses — Rich and luxurious appointments — House-rent and cost of 
furnishing — Mode of life — Foreign education — Beauty of the young 
girls — The duenna — The masking mantilla — Senoritas and cigarettes — 
Female culture — Depressing climate — Typical religious' procession — 
Social amenities of the saints — The church-bell nuisance — The theatre 
in Lima— Bull-Ring — Clubs — Ball-room 64 

CHAPTER IX. 

RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 

Mollendo — Its uninviting aspect — Railway between Mollendo and Arequipa 
— Places by the way — Steepness of the hills — Misti, Charchani, and 
Coropuna — The sand-dunes — Bearding Nature in her fastnesses — Mr. 
J. M. Thorndike's residence near Arequipa — The railway headquarters — 
The cathedral — Railway companions — The famous Verrugas bridge on 
the Oroya Railway — Some engineering particulars — Ubinas — Llamas, 
alpacas, and vicunas — Paucity of inhabitants between Arequipa and 
Puno — Mirage — Lakes Saracocha and Cachipuscana — The highest 
point on the railway 12 

CHAPTER X. 

THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 

A Peruvian curiosity — The Anonymous Company for Exploration of the Inca 
Sepulchres — Lake Titicaca — Remains of the naturalist James Orton — 
Copacabana — Sorata, Huani Potosi, Illimani — The Andes east of Lake 
Titicaca — The port of Chililaya — The journey to La Paz — Abundance 



x CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

of sheep and cattle — Situation of La Paz — The Grand Plaza — Native 
passion for gambling — Parisian costumes in vogue — Hall of Deputies — 
Incipient cathedral of the Greek order of architecture — Troops in La 
Paz — Constant exercise and discipline 81 

CHAPTER XL 

LA PAZ — THE QUAINT. 

Population — View of the city from an adjacent bluff — Stage-road and mule- 
trails — Kerosene-lamps — Absence of sidewalks — Scarcity of wood — Po- 
sition of the Alameda — Suggestion with respect to statues— Bustling 
streets — A large market — Great display of vegetables and fruit — " Yan- 
kee notions " in full force — Flower-women — Mode of contracting for 
bouquets — Hotels — Sefior Manuel Vicente Ballivian — Thirty-five hun- 
dred books and pamphlets all about Bolivia — " Barba Azul " at the 
theatre — Style of dress at the opera— Newspapers well represented — 
The Banco Nacional — Trade with Europe — Product of the silve:'-mines 
—Those of Potosi still fertile 89 

CHAPTER XII. 

VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 

Environs of La Paz — Bare feet of the women — Native music and dances — 
A scene of general ebriety — Gambling very popular — A pathetic in- 
stance of intoxication — The Aymaras — Dr. II. H. Rusby — From Mol- 
lendo to Valparaiso — Arica — Pisagua — Iquique — Tocopilla — Cobija — 
Autofagasta — Caldera — Coquimbo — Valparaiso as seen from the sea — • 
The harbor — Statue of Lord Cochrane — Female conductors on the tram- 
cars — Juan Fernandez — A pleasure-trip there — Robinson Crusoe's 
look-out — Commemoration tablet ....... 98 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. 

The railway to Santiago — Vino del Mar — Cerro de Santa Lucia — Benjamin 
Vicuna Mackenna — Plaza Independencia — The Capitol — Monument in 
memory of the holocaust at the Jesuits' church — Botanical and Zoolog- 
ical Gardens — Large foreign element in Santiago — Sworded policemen 
— En route for Montevideo — The overland routes from Chili to the Ar- \ 
gentine Republic — Snow-houses — Proposed Uspallata railway — Status 
of Chili — Her revenues and foreign trade — Matched against Peru — 
Leaving Valparaiso — Aconcagua as seen from the harbor . . . 107 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 

Lota — Scfiora Cousino, the wealthiest woman in Chili — Labor omnia vincit 
— The " Countess of Monte Cristo " — She is worth hundreds of millions 



CONTENTS. x i 

PAGE 

of dollars — Chiloc — The Chonos Archipelago — Wellington Island — 
Messier Channel — Surrounding scenery — Mount Stokes — Fantastic 
Chilian mountains — How they contrast with others — Chilian bays and 
inlets — The Fuegians — They are by no means a beautiful or attract- 
ive race — Their favorite mode of barter — Their tastes in general — 
Could their children become civilized ? 117 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 

Melancholy localities — The Strait of Magellan — Cape Froward and Cape 
Horn — Neighboring mountains — Punta Arenas — Its products and popu- 
lation — Strange vicissitudes that make people drift there — Ostrich 
rugs — Contrast between the western and the eastern half of the Strait 
of Magellan— False impressions about Terra del Fuego — Its climate 
less rigorous than Canada's — The Yahgans and the Onas — Contrast of 
the two tribes — The Falkland Islands — Cape Pembroke — Stanley Har- 
bor—Appearance of the settlement — Alfred the Little — Snobbery, 
how many absurdities are committed for thy sake ! . . .127 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FORLORN FALKLANDS. 

Consuls and vice-consuls at Stanley — Execrable climate — Sunday is kept 
there with true British rigidity — The Falkland group — Good harbors 
abound — Cattle and products — Lafone's negotiations — John Davis — 
De Bougainville — Beginning a lonely voyage — Patagonia not so utterly 
dreary as supposed — Soil and population — Difference between the 
Fuegians and the Patagonians — The ostrich and the rhea — Ostrich 
rugs cheap there — Ostrich-culture needed — Pumas and condors — The 
Argentine Government paying increased attention to Patagonia — A 
railroad from Bahia Blanca to San Luis in contemplation . . .136 



CHAPTER XVII. 

MONTEVIDEO THE ATTRACTIVE. 

The Parana and the Rio de la Plata — Bay of Montevideo — El Cerro — The 
city of Montevideo — Its position — Gunboats of many nationalities — 
Architectural aspect of the town — Large foreign element — The cathe- 
dral clock — Grand plaza — Government Building — Paso Molino — 
Basque music — The opera-house — Ocular flirtation — Feminine street 
fashions — General Santos — Uruguayan soldiers — Peculiarity of their 
uniform — Strange method of making recruits — Do prisons create pa- 
triots? 143 



xii CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 

PAGE 

On to Buenos Ayres — The " Norte " and the " Pampero " — Queer river-craft 
— The city of Buenos Ayres — Streets and sidewalks — North American 
names — Parisian splendor of shops — The Exchange — Cosmopolitan 
characteristics — Plaza ds la Victoria — Statue of General San Martin — 
Municipal buildings — The Recoleta — Mural burial not used — Handsome 
villas — Banks — Theatres — The Politeano Argentino — The city of La 
Plata — Public buildings there — Pampas — Importation of reapers — 
Inexpensive railways — Level nature of the country .... 151 

CHAPTER XIX. 

TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 

A wonderful rocking-stone — Similar ones nearer home — Glacial action 
places them — Matto Grosso — Prevailing style of river-vessel — Rosario 
— Parana— Goya — Gran Chaco — The camclotes — Alligators and car- 
pinchos — Asuncion — Effects of the war — Palace of Lopez — Hotel His- 
pano-Americano — How the city is laid out — Mediaevo-Oricntal aspect 
— The women outnumber the men — The town-hall — Custom-house — 
Unfinished opera-house — Cathedral — Absence of male worshipers — A 
solitary monument .159 

CHAPTER XX. 

A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 

Preponderance of market-women — Great variety of produce — Buyers carry 
home their purchases — Dress of women — Handsome girls and ugly 
hags — Smoking universal — Indian blood among Paraguayans — The 
currency — Salient features of the cemetery — Genuine grief and per- 
functory praying — The town of Paraguari — Its situation — Its means 
of communication with other places — Proposed route — Orange-women 
— Corricntes — It is not without a statue to Liberty — Biblioteca popu- 
lar — Indisputable evidences of civilization 167 

CHAPTER XXI. 

ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 

Difficult voyaging — Banks of the upper Parana — Procrastination of the 
natives — A coach like the Swiss diligence universally used in these 
parts — Character of the landscape — The Gaucho — Between Itusaingo 
and Posadas — Songlcss birds — Posadas — Encarnacion — It is a street 
rather than a town — The rcduceiones — Abdon Ahumada — Incidents of 
travel — Swarms of butterflies — Hard life for civilized travellers — Primi- 
tive bathing-house — Ingenuous natives — Scantiness of female costume 



CONTENTS. xiii 

PAGE 

— Every kind of ornamentation popular — Why do mosquitoes exist ? — 
The river Iguassu — Serior Adam's garden — Qualities of the Parana . 176 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

The mouth of the Iguassu — Making up a party for the falls — Wild animals 
along the shore — The Tupi Indians — Plague of insects — Jerked beef 
good for the hungry — Pursuing sleep under difficulties — We begin the 
hard part of our journey — Rock-climbing at 115° Fahr. — Bearding the 
jaguar in his den — The carrapato, the pest of the forest — The jigger 
likewise unendurable — Rewarded at last with a view of the great falls 
— They constitute the Niagara of South America — Prototypes of the 
"Canadian" and "American" cataracts — A roar that can be heard 
twenty miles — I christen them " Daly Falls," in honor of the President 
of the American Geographical Society 186 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. 

Exact position of the Daly Falls — Through -express routes non-existent in 
South America — Messrs. Uribi's establishment — A typical Paraguayan 
farm — Enormous ant-hills — Yerba forests — Primitive life of the In- 
dians — A ride through the forest — Delightful life on Tupurupucu ranch 
— Ox-carts with yerba-mate — All but a duel — San Tome — It contains 
the ubiquitous plaza — On the way from San Borje — Railways, present 
and prospective — Itaqui — Mate and cigarettes — How the former is 
served — Sipping through silver tubes — Gathering and preparing mate 
for consumption 195 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

DOWN THE URUGUAY. 

Aime Bonpland — His work — Restauracion — Ceibo — Monte Caseros — Con- 
cordia — Paysandu — Fray Bentos — Liebig's famous meat-extract factory 
— More than twenty-five hundred thousand cattle slaughtered by the 
company in twenty years — The matador — How animals are lassoed and 
killed — Incredible velocity with which bullocks are slain and sliced — 
Process of making the extract — Eight million jars sold annually — On 
to Rio de Janeiro — Dangers of La Plata — Superiority in some respects 
of French, Italian, and German steamers 204 

CHAPTER XXV. 

RIO DE JANEIRO. 

The harbor — Sugai'-Loaf Rock — Beautiful appearance of the city from the 
water by night — Corcovado — I see the harbor by moonlight, starlight, 
gaslight, and daylight — Difference between Rio Janeiro and Valparaiso 



x iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

— Large ironclads — Narrow streets — Picturesque houses — Singularity 
of the signs — Tramways and public vehicles — The great show-sight of 
Rio — Physical and mechanical attributes of the road to Corcovado — An 
opportunity Theophile Gautier would have improved — A pass that 
outdoes any on Mount Washington or the Righi — The wondrous pano- 
rama that is unfolded — A mid-air vision that takes away the breath — 
Emotions aroused by the outlook from the top of Corcovado . .212 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

STREET SCENES. 

Their inexhaustibility — Morbid curiosity of the Brazilians — With them star- 
ing is a fine art — Nonchalance of store-keepers — The people are in- 
quisitive rather than acquisitive — A splendid residence sacrificed to 
curiosity — Nuisance of music practice — Meager appearance of the white 
Brazilians — Coolness of neighboring hill resorts — Yellow fever — Pro- 
portionof deaths — Causes of yellow fever and small-pox. — Bad drain- 
age, lack of fresh air, stagnation of water, corruption of garbage — 
Apparent extravagance of prices — The real explanation — Rio's market 
— Negresses — Turkey - sellers — Milkmen — The Carnival — Danger of 
wearing a silk hat — Merry maskers — Toleration of customs that should 
be obsolete 221 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 

Botanical Gardens — Their situation — An arborescent gallery — Wonderful 
Royal palms — Campo Sant' Anna — Cascade Grotto — Small influence of 
the priesthood in Brazil — Features of a grand requiem — Few handsome 
public edifices — The splendid Misericordia Hospital — Supervised by 
'Sisters of Charity — Academy of Fine Arts — The Dom Pedro II. Thea- 
tre — Military band of seventy-five mulattoes — The Emperor's box — 
Complexions of the audience — Results of miscegenation — His Majesty 
arrives amid silence — Distribution of prizes — A local poet shines — The 
public reserves its enthusiasm for comic operas 231 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ENVIRONS OF RIO. 

National Library — National Museum — Contributions by foreign naturalists 
and savans — Dr. Ladislau Netto — Astronomical observatory — Histori- 
cal, Geographical, and Ethnographical Institute of Brazil — Tijuca — 
Whyte's Hotel — The " Chinese View " — Petropolis — A Brazilian Gov- 
ernor's Island — Raiz do Serra — Various languages that assail one's 
ears — Foreign ministers make Petropolis their summer home — It re- 
sembles an old German town — Theresopolis — Organ Mountains — The 
Switzerland of Brazil — Piedade — Beautiful scenery .... 242 



CONTENTS. X v 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 

PAGE 

San Cristoval, the Emperor's palace — His Majesty receives me — Dom Pedro 
described — His tact, energy, culture, and humanity — His pleasant rec- 
ollections of the United States — His address, while in this country, be- 
fore the American Geographical Society — A democratic emperor — Bra- 
zilian royalties — Dom Pedro's intellectual and physical activity — 
Untiring manner in which, both at home and abroad, he admits alter- 
nately the claims of business and pleasure — Princess Isabella — Size 
of Brazil — National finances — The Riachuelo, the admiral's flag-ship — 
The Brazilian navy — The monitor Javari — Discomfort of a voyage on 
such a vessel 252 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 

The richest coffee region of Brazil — Scenery along the road — Position of 
San Paulo — Headquarters of the coffee interest — Campinas — Manor- 
houses — Ignorance, indolence, loveliness, and content of the women — 
Brazilian slavery — Provisions of 1871 — Later legislation — Contem- 
plated revolt in 1886 — Causes of dissatisfaction — Immediate and un- 
conditional emancipation granted in 1888 — Festivities on May 18th, 
19th, and 20th of that year — Civic and educational processions — Free 
theatrical performances — Santos — Views from the summit of Serra do 
Mar — Unhcalthiness of the seaport — The Barra 259 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

A TRIP TO MORRO VELHO. 

The province of Minas-Geraes — Proposed tour — A splendid ride in the 
Celeridade — Along the Piabanha — Valley of the Parahybuna River — 
Railroad and steamboat lines — Queluz — A town more dead than alive 
— Doctors practice medicine " pour passer le temps " — Prevalence of 
lepers — Hippolyte, the guide — Habits of muleteers and cart-drivers — 
Ouro Branco — Terrific thunder-showers — Rough specimen of a Brazil- 
ian pousada — Laced bed-linen amid filth and squalor — A knifeless din- 
ner — Caxones — Strange ecclesiastical emblems upon crosses — The lat- 
ter became disheartening on account of tragic associations ascribed to 
them 26*7 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 

Congonhas — It is a hamlet, but nevertheless contains a theatre and a ca- 
thedral — Mr. George Chalmers, superintendent of the San Juan del 



xvi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Rey Mining Company — Descending the Morro Velho mine — The man- 
ner in which the trip is made — Rumblings and reverberations inside the 
mine — The air is pure, but the environment is pandemoniac — Gangs of 
men singing while at work — Dore and Dante would have been at home 
there — Dynamite in constant demand — The way you reach daylight 
again — Contented troglodytes — Colored people at the Casa Grande — 
Africa let loose — Baiting the bull — Slaves speak their native language 
— Ceaseless clatter of the mills — " Timbuetoo "— Mine and mills em- 
ploy 1,500 persons of nine nationalities — The gold troop . . . 276 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

ON THE RIO DAS VELHAS. 

Between Morro Velho and Jaguara — Sahara — Santa Luzia — A closet bedroom 
like those in New York flats — An automatic corn-smasher — Jaguara — 
The buildings going to ruin — Bats and owls have it ail to themselves — 
Method of catching serpents — Amenities of convict life in Santa Luzia 
— Hotel-keeping in Brazil — Ouro Preto — Mules and horses in Brazil 
contrasted with those of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia — The roads and 
wayside inns — The peak of Itacolumi — Ouro Preto consists chiefly of 
one thoroughfare 285 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 

A Tyrolese town suggested — Ouro Preto is the capital of one of the finest 
provinces of Brazil — Municipal buildings — Brazilian sense of time — 
Church of Antonio Dias — School of Mines — Off for Teixeiras — Mari- 
anna and San Sebastian — Apparent preponderance of negroes — Euro- 
peans in Minas-Gcraes — Yankee clocks and sewing-machines — Bread 
and eggs not to be had for the asking — Noise and shallow politeness of 
people at the hotels — From Teixeiras to San Geraldo — A crooked rail- 
way — Remarkable bit of engineering — The distance to Canto Gallo — 
Over the mountains thither — Route to Nictheroy — Nova Friburgo — 
Serra da Boa Vista — The Fell system of railway — The peak of Tijuca 
— Nictheroy — An exquisite panorama wherewith to close the day . . 294 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 

Farewell to Rio — Bay of Bahia — Situation of the city — Residences on the 
bluff — No public buildings of special merit — Open-air market — Muscu- 
lar development of the negroes — Sedan-chairs — Mediaeval streets — The 
old Government House — The Municipal Hall — The plaza and its sur- 
roundings — Tramways in Bahia — Rio Vermelho — The "seven sta- 
tions " — Public Garden — A favorite promenade — Cachoeira — Landing 



CONTENTS. xvii 

PAGE 

the mail in a bottle — Mr. Joseph Mawson, Superintendent of the Bra- 
zilian Imperial Central Bahia Railway — Along the course of the Para- 
guassu River — Caverns not made by man — Diamond-washings . . 304 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. 

From Bahia to Penedo — Aracaju — President's palace — House of Delegates 
— Piassabossu — Penedo — It exports cotton, sugar, and hides — Steep 
streets — Beggars in abundance — Religious procession — The people are 
religious but untheological — How Good Friday was observed — Effi- 
gies of Judas Iscariot — From Penedo to Piranhas — Propria — Traipu — 
Threading the tortuous San Francisco — Pao d'Assucar — Apparent inac- 
cessibility of Piranhas — Absence of good hotels — The railway from 
Piranhas to Jatoba — Horses and mules still employed for transporta- 
tion — People of Piranhas — Pedra do Sino, or bell-stone . . .315 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE KING OF RAPIDS. 

From Piranhas to Sinimbu — Rapids of Paulo Affonso — The vaqueiro and 
his family — Vai-vem — Seven great cataracts — Inferno and Arcadia 
combined — " Emperor's View " — Vampire Grotto — Locality for a pro- 
spective Cataract House — The village of Jatoba — It is without a hotel 
— How travelers may fare — Cataracts of Itaparica — Resounding roar 
— Lawless character of Jatoba and Piranhas — Capital punishment non- 
existent in Brazil — Parisian clock in Piranhas — Love- songs through 
the night — The town of Maceio ........ 326 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

THE " CITY OF THE REEF." 

Pernambuco — It possesses the essential characteristics of a city — Country- 
houses of rich merchants — Recife — Custom-house and Arsenal of War 
— President's house and gardens — Theatre — School of Fine Arts — 
Hospital of Dom Pedro II. — House of Deputies — Cemetery — Public 
market — Building of the Commercial Association — Sugar and cotton 
interests — Private residences in Pernambuco — Village of Caxanga — 
Great variety of vegetable produce — New reservoir and water-works — 
Olinda as a suburb — Predominance of churches and convents — Theo- 
logical seminary — Palmares — Mandioc and beans — The engenhos, or 
sugar-mills — Cape Saint Roquc — San Luiz — Para .... 335 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 

Para is also called Belem — Its situation — Public market — Botanical Gar- 
dens, so-called — Pretty dwelling-houses — Variable climate — Large 

B 



xvlii CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

opera-house — A leaderless band — Audiences enter and exit en masse 
— Manrico passes round the hat — Braganca — Forest intricacies and 
luxuriance — Vagaries of tree-growth — Mr. E. S. Rand's gardens — Ama- 
zonian passenger-line — Idleness of the voyagers — Amazon Valley, the 
country of hammocks — Beautiful specimens on the Rio Negro — Pre- 
vailing character of the Amazon — Magnificent scene at the mouth of 
the Xingu — A botanist's paradise — Palms in exhaustless varieties . 344 

*-— CHAPTER XL. 

UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 

Daily deck-washing — Invisibility of the captain — Expertness of the pilots 
— Abundance of local travel — The two-mouthed Xingu — The Amazon 
a veritable " ocean-stream " — Largest river in the world — Three fourths 
of Brazil tropical — Birds — Santarem — Obidos — It seems almost like a 
cemetery — Piratical-looking craft — Wind and current on the Amazon 
— Pirarucu — The Amazon assumes new names at particular points — 
Manaos — Zinc market-house — Brazil Street — Elastica — Newspapers — 
Hackney-coaches — Cafes — Billiard-saloons — Barber -shops — Botanical 
Museum of Amazonas — Works on Brazil — Dr. J. Barboza Rodrigues — 
Beef-cattle — Method of hoisting bullocks on board steamers — The long- 
est way round, the shortest home — I cross the equator for the eleventh 
time . 355 

CHAPTER XLI. 

TO THE GUIANAS Via BARBADOS. 

Roadstead of Bridgetown — Government offices— Narrow sidewalks — Build- 
ings of all sizes and shapes — Church of England cathedral — Parlia- 
ment Houses — Assembly and Council Chamber— Library — Albert Hall 
— Hastings, an English garrison-post— Barbados as a sanitarium — Eng- 
lish residences— Sugar-mills and wind-mills— Paucity of trees — Cod- 
rington College — Coast of British Guiana — Dcmcrara River — George- 
town — Berbice — Great variety of races represented— Tower Hotel — 
Use of canals in Georgetown — Large stores amply stocked — Tramways 
— Choice of churches and clubs — Sea-front of British Guiana— Immi- 
gration — Sugar estates — Provinces and parishes — Governor and Court 
of Policy — Governor's " contingencies " 366 

CHAPTER XLII. 

A BRITISH COLONY. 

Fine public buildings wanting in Georgetown — Law Courts — The Public 
Building — Market — Roman Catholic Cathedral — British Guiana Muse- 
um — Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society— Newspapers and 
magazines — Government House —Promenade Gardens — Drives — Sea- 



CONTENTS. xix 

PAGE 

wall — Botanical Gardens — "Victoria Regia — Climate — Georgetown set- 
tlement — British Guiana — Mouth of the Essequibo — Wood-cutting and 
stone-quarrying — Bartica Grove — Penal settlement — Up the Demerara 
— Negroes and Creoles — Macusi Indians — Gold-mining — The Royal 
Dutch West-India Mail — Surinam — Administration Building — Govern- 
ment House — Paramaribo " . 3*76 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 

Churches and cemeteries — Jews an important factor — Climate — Police — 
Fire-engines — Dress and appearance of the women — Ball at the Gov- 
ernment House — Pyjamas— Imported ice — Dutch architecture — Pub- 
lic garden — Colonial Council — Circulating libraries — Club — Cayenne — 
How it looks from a distance — Magasin general — Vultures clean the 
streets — Gowns of Creole women — French garrison — Enfant Perdu — 
Kaw Mountains — Gold quartz — Cabbage-Palm Square — Double palm- 
tree — Gendarmerie — Government House — Semaphore — Levee — Gulf of 
Paria — La Brea — Port-of-Spain 385 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. 

Hospitals and asylums in Port-of-Spain — Queen's Park — Botanical Gardens 
— Pitch Lake of La Brea — San Fernando — Asphaltum — Pitch volca- 
noes — Orinoco line of steamers — Accommodations on them — Macareo 
River — Character of the Orinoco — Barrancas — Las Tablas — El Callao 
— Prairie fires — The delta — Bolivar — Steamers at anchor — How the 
city of Bolivar is supplied with water — El Respiroso — Bust of General 
Guzman Blanco — The " Illustrious American Regenerator " — Gambling 
on shipboard — Vingt-et-un — Birds along the river .... 396 

CHAPTER XLV. 

THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR. 

Island of Margarita — Tortuga — Roadstead of La Guayra — Government 
work — Macuto — The Coney Island of Venezuela — Appearance of La 
Guayra from the ocean — Absence of vegetation — Dwellings of negroes 
— Streets — Equestrian statue of General Blanco — Offer of an English 
company — Imported British rolling-stock — Heavy rains — Skillful en- 
gineering — Zigzag — Caracas — Manner in which it is laid out — Peculiar 
nomenclature of the streets — Orientation necessary to the stranger — 
Carriage-hire — The telephone in use — French and Spanish cookery — 
Paseo Guzman Blanco — Profuse supply of vegetables — Stone sun-dial 
belonging to Humboldt — Statue of Bolivar — Handsome public build- 
ings — Statues of Vargas and Cajegal — Government buildings — Federal 
Palace — Opera-House — Teatro Caracas 405 



xx CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 

PAGE 

Panteon National — Attachment of Venezuelans to Bolivar — National Mu- * 
seum — Caracas ladies — Their dress and appearance — Influence of 
Blanco — He pervades Caracas — George Washington not forgotten — 
Welcome given to General Blanco — The latter's birth and education — 
How he became instructed in politics — Became Vice-President and 
Secretary of the Treasury — Provisional President — His influence upon 
public instruction and the development of the country — He spends 
millions on public works — Revises the civil, military, and penal . codes 
— He retires, but is recalled — He extends the boundaries of the repub- 
lic — Two thousand public schools attest his devotion to education — He 
is the friend of railways, telegraph lines, electric lighting, and telephones 
— His masterly management of the finances — Riches and houses of 
Blanco — Wealth of Venezuela — Puerto Cabello — Willemstad — A Dutch 
colony — Curacao — Santa Marta — Sierra Nevada — The Magdalena . 415 



CHAPTER XL VII. 

A WEEK ON THE MAGDALENA. 

An impracticable custom-house — Salgar — Barranquilla — Mule hackney- 
coaches — Yeguas — Caracoli — Steamers on the Magdalena — Value of 
mosquito-netting — State-rooms — Pilot-house — Very mixed meals — A 
stampede for the table — Lightning-like ingurgitation — Tortuousness of 
the Magdalena — Mompos — Floods — The Indians like the water's edge 
— Character of the Magdalena — Bay of Cartagena — Calamar — Mercan- 
tile fair at Magangue — Banco — Wild animals in the forest — Profusion 
of towns and villages — The river people — Aborigines — Andes — Ocana 
— Canoe-traveling — Railway to Pamplona and Socorro — Angostura . 426 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

THE ANDES AGAIN. 

Honda — Pendulum-boat — Mules for mountain travel — Dress of the men — 
Guaduas — Roadside inn — Chicha — Villetta — Agua Larga — Cone of To- 
lima — Facatativa — The grand plaza — Omnibuses — Plain of Bogota — 
Guadalupe and Monseratte — Position of Bogota — Badness of the best 
hotel — Prevalence of goitre — Costly mule-road — December in Bogota 
Conspirator cloaks — Fondness for black — Cathedral and public build- 
ings — Pilgrimages — The great square of the Constitution — Capitol — 
Mud houses and iron gratings — Diversity of house-fronts — Absence of 
carts and carriages — Sedan-chairs — Kerosene-lamps in the streets — 
One line of tramway — Chapinero — Horsemanship — Amusements . . 436 



CONTENTS. XX1 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

SANTA FE DE BOGOTA. 

PAGE 

The mint — Coins in circulation — Paper currency — Churches — La Tercera — 
Statue of General Mosquera — Senate and House of Representatives — 
Revolutions in Colombia — How people live there — School of Fine Arts 
— A regiment of boys — The paradise of generals — Military oddities — 
President's body-guard — National Museum — National Library — Astro- 
nomical observatory — New opera-house — Newspapers — Muzzling the 
press — Folletins — Tequendama Falls — Their location — How to reach 
them — Features of the scenery — Landscape lineaments — A cataract 
that jumps six hundred feet. — Tolima and Ruiz — View up the Magda- 
lena — Steep staircases — The straw in my saddle almost eaten by my 
mule — Munchausen-like, but true 446 

CHAPTER L. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

The Colombian's extraordinary conception of business — No stamps procur- 
able at the mailing-place — Hotel-bills — Detention of steamers — Exag- 
gerated politeness — Trade with Barranquilla — Fifteen stops for freight 
— Cartagena — The bay — Groves of cocoanut-palms — Coolie Town — 
Aspinwall — Danger of fire — Iron steamer-warehouses — Arcade style of 
sidewalks — Multifarious shops — Gambling in all classes — Currency — 
Communication with the rest of the world — Chinese shop-keepers — 
Panama — The canal more destructive to human life than the railway 
— Three hundred million dollars spent — The most gigantic financial 
disaster of the nineteenth century — A fabulous enterprise — I conclude 
my travels with quick and multitudinous glimpses — A blessing on my 
readers . 455 

Index 465 



ILLUSTKATIONS. 



FACING 
PAGE 

H. M. the Emperor of Brazil Frontispiece 

Llamas, Ecuador .20 

Professional Mourners 29 

President Caamano 32 

Chimborazo from a Height of Fourteen Thousand Feet . . .42 

General Caceres . 51 

Panorama of Lima 55 

Viaduct of Verrugas, Oroya Railroad 59 

The General Cemetery of Lima 62 

A House Entrance, Lima 65 

A Lima Belle 67 

The Fandango of Peru 69 

Silver Head from an Inca Cemetery 81 

Copacabana, Lake Titicaca 83 

Crusoe's Lookout (with Commemorative Tablet) 106 

View from the Principal Square of Santiago 109 

Puerto Bueno, Smyth's Channel 120 

Fuegians at Home 124 

A View in the Strait of Magellan 128 

Patagonians and their Tent 141 

General View of Montevideo . . ' 144 

A Private Residence, Buenos Ayres 154 

The Famous Rocking-Stone of Tandil 159 

The Daly Falls, Iguassu River 192 

The Daly Falls ; a Near View from the Brazilian Side .... 194 

View of the Entrance to the Harbor of Rio Janeiro .... 212 

View from the Summit of the Corcovado 212 

Statue of Dom Pedro 1 216 

By Rail to the Corcovado 218 

A Market-woman 227 

A Part of the Avenue of Royal Palms 231 

A Profile of the Avenue of Royal Palms 233 

Four Pretty Sisters 238 

The Palace of San Cristoval 252 



xx i v ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAClsr. 
PAUK 

The Empress of Brazil 255 

The Brazilian Ironclad Riachuelo 257 

Pines, Minas-Geraes, Brazil 207 

Wooden Images in a Church at Congonhas 276 

A Wealthy Negress 297 

General View of Bahia 305 

A View from the Public Gardens 811 

The King of Rapids 328 

The Reef and Harbor of Pernambuco 335 

A Chinese Immigrant, Georgetown 373 

Colonial Produce, British Guiana 377 

A Paramaribo Creole 386 

A Cayenne Creole 390 

A Big Tree in a Public Square, Port-of-Spain 396 

A Hindoo Coolie, Port-of-Spain 400 

Scene on the Railway from La Guayra to Caracas .... 409 

General Guzman Blanco 418 

Magdalena River Steamboats 427 

Colombian Horsemen 437 

A Business Street of Bogota 444 



MAPS AND PLANS. 

Map of South America, with Routes of the Author .... 1 
Situation of the Argentine Republic in South America . . . 151 

Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro 214 

The Map of Brazil and the Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro . . 248 

Chart of a Section of the Lower Amazon 352 

Plan of the Railway from La Guayra to Caracas 407 



AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I. 

OUTWAKD BOTIOT). 

On June 10, 1885, the well-appointed and ably com- 
manded Pacific Mail steamship Acapulco sailed from New 
York, numbering the present writer among her passengers. 
Most of us were bound for the Isthmus of Panama, the 
steamer conducting us to the well-known commercial port of 
Aspinwall. The distance is two thousand miles. We trav- 
ersed it in nine days — rather slow travel when the Atlantic 
is skimmed in six ; but doubtless the Pacific Mail Steamship 
Company finds it more profitable to lodge and board its pas- 
sengers for a long period than to waste the extra coal that 
would be required for a short one. Our voyage was no ex- 
ception to those usually experienced in the tropics, where a 
good steamer, with good company, makes dullness a dream. 
In the days there is the exhilaration of brightness and breeze ; 
in the nights, the balm of coolness and repose. If the moon 
be large and brilliant, her fantastic glory gives an invitation 
to romance. This might easily have been our case, though 
it was not, and through the entire route scarcely a dozen ves- 
sels appeared, to relieve for a moment the Acapulco's loneli- 
ness. 

The first land we beheld was that part of the New "World 
which Columbus, thirty-five days from Spain, in his ninety- 
ton pinnace, named San Salvador. To geographers it is now 
more prosaically known as Watling Island. It is one of the 
l 



2 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

most fertile of the Bahamas, producing sub-tropical fruits, 
grain, and roots in lavish abundance. It was a treat to gaze, 
even from a distance, upon an island, the discovery of which, 
nearly four centuries ago, has proved the greatest blessing of 
the kind the world has known. Passing the eastern extrem- 
ity of Cuba, we were soon greeted by the flaming stars of the 
Southern Cross, the most splendid constellation of the south- 
ern heavens. Numerous flying-Ash and tiny nautili in their 
boat-like shells betoken an entrance into another and stranger 
zone. A few uninteresting islands, right and left, did not 
at the moment enhance this strangeness, as we performed the 
practical duty of dropping our mail-bags into whale-boats, 
which put off to us from solitary lighthouses. But soon the 
purple mountains of Havti loomed grandly from the east, 
and then, crossing the Caribbean, we saw no more land until 
the famed Isthmus of Panama faintly looked at us from the 
vanishing-point which unites water and sky. 

We entered Aspinwall Harbor at six in the morning. A 
few men-of-war, a dozen passenger-steamers, and half a dozen 
ships, rode lazily at anchor. Behind them were the ruins of 
the town, which had been recently burned by the Colombian 
rebels, and in the distance stood the thickly wooded hills. 
The only wharf untouched by the fire was that owned by our 
steamer's company. We landed and took a walk. Our sea- 
legs had begun to envy the art of the pedestrian. The town 
is situated upon the western side of Manzanilla Island, which 
itself lies at the northeastern corner of Limon Bay. This 
island is perhaps three miles long and two broad, and has 
been artificially joined with the mainland by a narrow neck 
of soil. The northern terminus of the Panama Canal is at 
the head of Limon Bay. Upon a point of land extending 
into this bay, about half a mile from Aspinwall, is the French 
town of Christophe Colomb, which has sprung up since the 
inception of the canal. It is a much more healthy location 
than that of Aspinwall, which is scarcely a foot above the 
sea-level, and is a neat little settlement of two-story houses, 
with macadamized and well-drained streets. Here stands a 



OUTWARD BOUND. 3 

colossal bronze statue of " Columbus and the Indian." This 
and a plain granite shaft to the memory of the three founders 
of Aspinwall — William H. Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, and 
John L. Stephens — at the opposite end of the island, near 
the sea, are about the only artistic embellishments of a town 
which, first and last, is only a side station on one of the 
great highways of commerce. It is almost useless to add 
that Colomb is peopled entirely by canal employes. Yast 
stores of canal-digging implements and machinery are here 
collected, some under cover, but the greater part exposed. 
The town had apparently been built upon level, marshy 
ground, with its houses reared upon brick and wooden piles. 
Thousands of Jamaica negroes were busily engaged in erect- 
ing all sorts of temporary shanties. The depot having been 
burned, the trains of the Panama Railroad departed from a 
random point in the street. The yellow fever was raging, 
and three corpses, borne on canvas litters, passed me in my 
walk and prepared me for the sight of a score of cheap 
wooden coffins lying in a row in an old freight-house. The 
streets were filthy and everywhere flooded with water, the 
heat was intolerable, and I only wondered that any human 
beings could live, to say nothing of their keeping well, under 
such adverse conditions. 

In an old church about thirty of the late rebels were eon- 
fined as prisoners of war, and guarded by as sorry a looking 
lot of native soldiery as I ever saw in any land. Two of the 
prisoners, found guilty of firing Aspinwall, had been hanged, 
but it was considered doubtful whether any severe punish- 
ment would be meted out to the others. The continued 
revolts and miniature revolutions of the disaffected South 
American states would soon become less frequent if stern 
and speedy retribution — such as death by hanging — should 
be administered to the leaders. But the authorities, instead, 
treat their distinguished prisoners to champagne, and free 
them on parole. As these malcontents are simply profes- 
sional freebooters, if a rebellion is suppressed in one state or 
in one part of a state, they at once set forth for any place, 



4 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

neighboring or distant, where another rebellion may happen 
to be in progress. The governments are often bad, but these 
riotous outbreaks seldom embrace many of the intelligent, 
sober-minded citizens. The rebellions never result in any 
good. Their ringleaders are not patriots, but men intent 
only upon personal power and aggrandizement by any means, 
however foul. The best remedy for these evils would be 
strong central governments, with sufficient power and inclina- 
tion to preserve the peace and compel the observance of law 
and order. But, unfortunately, the existing governments are 
generally too weak or too vacillating to take such measures. 

The railway to Panama is forty-seven miles in length, 
and tickets have to be purchased on board the trains. 
Twenty-live dollars in gold was charged for a through pas- 
senger — an extortionate monopoly of fifty-three cents per 
mile, which made it the most expensive railway in the world. 
Four passenger trains run each way daily, the express requir- 
ing three hours to make the trip. Personal baggage is very 
dear, and must be paid for at the rate of thirteen cents per 
pound. Of the thirty stations on the railway, the express 
stops at fewer than half, and many of these seem to be only 
negro hamlets of palm-thatched huts. The cars, of which 
there are two classes, those of even the first not equaling 
the appointments of an ordinary American car, are made 
in Philadelphia, and the locomotives in Paterson. The 
engineers and conductors are whites, and generally Ameri- 
cans ; the firemen and brakemen are Colombians or negroes. 
Our train was filled with a most cosmopolite crowd, and 
smoking was universal, even in the first-class cars. The line 
of the railway is very sinuous. For about one third of the 
distance the country is undulating and swampy, while the 
remainder is diversified by hillocks and small rivers. For 
the purposes of the railroad, a width of about fifty feet is 
kept cleared through the very dense tropical jungle which 
covers the isthmus. The predominant trees are cocoa-palms, 
bananas, bread-fruits, papayas, and bamboos. 

The famous interoceanic canal of M. de Lesseps follows 



OUTWARD BOUND. 5 

generally the line of the railway, which it twice crosses. It 
was to have run in a general northwest and southeast direc- 
tion, and be forty-five miles in length, or two miles less than 
the railway. It was expected to be twenty-eight feet in 
depth and one hundred feet wide at its bottom. There were 
to be five stations on the canal, where ships might pass each 
other, and five other intermediate stations. The Isthmus of 
Panama extends in a general east and west direction, and is 
extremely hilly, covered with virgin forest, and full of large 
and small rivers. As the center of the isthmus is in about 
9° of north latitude, in the " rainy season " the deluge is ter- 
rific, and all these rivers and streams rise suddenly and flow 
furiously, with disastrous and readily conceivable effects. The 
dividing ridge of the isthmus is about fifteen miles from the 
Pacific. From this point, in the same course as that in which 
the canal is being built, the Chagres River runs to the At- 
lantic and the Rio Grande to the Pacific. To restrain the 
waters of the Chagres, which has been known to rise forty 
feet in the rainy season, and which the canal has to cross 
about a dozen times, twenty huge and massive dams will 
have to be constructed. The Rio Grande, however, is crossed 
but once, and that near its mouth. In the dividing ridge of 
the isthmus a great regulative reservoir is being formed by 
damming the Chagres at that point, a lake being enlarged 
and otherwise fitted for that purpose. Upon the hills here-' 
about are very extensive French settlements, the little cot- 
tages with wide, projecting roofs being erected upon brick 
or stone pillars six feet in height, and placed in situations 
most exposed to the sun and air. Some distance from the 
Pacific terminus it was intended to excavate a large interior 
port like that at Aspinwall, which opens directly into the 
Bay of Limon. Continuing from that point, the canal was 
to enter the Pacific, not at Panama, but three miles to the 
southwest, and a channel would have to be excavated nearly 
to a distance of three miles — in fact, almost to the islands 
south of Panama, where the Pacific Mail steamers have a 
coaling and repairing station. Of course, the entire line has 



6 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

been carefully marked out and cleared of jungle, but no part 
of it is wholly completed. Work has not been continuous 
from either end, but has been expended at intervals in sec- 
tions. Here you see trenches dug and dirt trains running 
upon temporary tracks ; there possibly a huge digger eating 
quietly into a hill-side. I saw one mammoth excavator from 
Springfield, Mass., belonging to the American Contracting 
and Dredging Company, at work digging through a rocky- 
hill with as much ease apparently as if it were simply raising 
oozy mud from the bottom of New York Harbor. The di- 
mensions of this great dredge were : Length, one hundred 
and twenty feet; breadth, sixty-five feet; and height of 
tower, seventy- five feet. Here were vast heaps of tools and 
machinery piled around warehouses of material ; there rows 
of huge dormitories for laborers. The latter were mostly 
negroes from Jamaica and other West India islands and from 
the cities of the Spanish Main. At the time of my visit 
fifteen thousand of them were said to be at work, in addition 
to more than two thousand foreigners, mostly French, serv- 
ing as surveyors, engineers, machinists, superintendents, and 
clerks. All were well paid and promptly. The ordinary 
laborers got one dollar and twenty cents a day, operating 
engineers from ninety to one hundred and twenty dollars a 
month. Belgium furnished the greater part of the machinery, 
and Belgium and Germany most of the mechanical engineers. 
At scarcely any point of the line will you find anything 
resembling what you imagine to be a canal, but instead the 
whole country eeeras turned upside down ; everything ap- 
pears crude, rough, and unfinished. The reader will please 
understand that I am giving the observations and impressions 
of my first visit in 1885. That the canal would some day 
be completed, I thought improbable ; but, if it should be, it 
seemed wholly impossible that at such an enormous outlay it 
could prove a financial success. But when was it likely to be 
finished ? Who knew ? About as many men were engaged 
upon it as could be conveniently handled and fed. The cli- 
mate, of course, was very much against the European employes, 



OUTWARD BOUND. 7 

thousands of whom had died since the work began. That 
very sanguine and vivacious veteran, M. de Lesseps, first ap- 
pointed the year 1888 as the period of the opening of "la 
grand canal du Panama." But this, it should be remembered, 
was when he was on his travels in search of subscriptions. 
He has since postponed the occasion to 1890. The French 
engineer-in-chief told a friend of mine that he estimated that 
about one thirty-second part of the whole work was done at 
the time of my first visit in 1885. Active labor was begun 
in 1881 ; so at this rate of progress it would require one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight years to complete the canal ! There 
seemed a strong probability that before many years the 
money would run short and the work droop and languish, 
until either the sea-level project was exchanged for one with 
locks, or else possibly the governments of several rich and 
powerful nations would unite in the completion of the most 
gigantic and daring design of man upon this globe. A later 
review of the work will be found in my last chapter. 

On alighting from the train at Panama, crazy little hacks 
carry you over ill-paved, and, at the rainy season, very muddy 
roads, beyond the wretchedly dirty and bad-smelling out- 
skirts of the city. Thence you pass through narrow and 
crooked ways, between rows of two-story and three-story 
houses, whose projecting balconies sometimes nearly touch 
each other across the street, and at last you enter the cathe- 
dral plaza. On one side of this is the office of the " Com- 
pagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique," on another the 
bishop's palace, on still another the cathedral, and on the 
fourth the Grand Central Hotel. This is the best hotel in 
Panama, a great four-story building, which has on the ground 
floor a large American bar-room and barber-shop and a spa- 
cious dining-room paved with marble. TJp-stairs is a com- 
modious public parlor with a waxed floor and cane furniture. 
Bedrooms either have exterior openings upon the streets or 
interior ones upon a court-yard. The huge caravansary is 
lighted with gas, and the Saratoga price of five dollars a day is 
charged for very inferior lodging and worse board. The 



8 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

city, of very old Spanish origin, is built upon comparatively 
level ground, on a narrow peninsula extending out into the 
Pacific Ocean, or rather the Bay of Panama. At the extreme 
eastern point of this peninsula are still standing the walls of 
the old citadel. They are built of brick and faced with cut 
stone. They are thirty or forty feet in height and twenty- 
live in thickness, and notwithstanding their great age still re- 
main in good condition. Their top, provided with masonry 
seats, forms a needed promenade and cool lounging-place of 
an evening. The slowly combing waves of the Pacific dash 
in huge rollers against the foot of the walls, and you have a 
fine view, not only seaward, but toward the islands where 
anchor the coasting steamers, as well as toward the wooded 
and very irregular hills of the isthmus. But the city of 
Panama itself I found intolerably hot, damp, and dirty, with 
little of special interest for the traveler, unless he were an 
archaeologist or architect. In the latter case he would like to 
study the cathedral, in the former the old fort. The cathedral 
is an ancient edifice, with two towers, the cupolas of which 
have an edging of oyster-shells by way of ornament. Upon 
the facade are thirteen full-length statues of alleged saints. 
The interior of the cathedral is extremely plain, both walls 
and altars, and is enriched with no fine paintings or carvings. 
The Isthmus of Panama is credited with a population of 
about 200,000 ; while Panama city contains some 20,000, 
mostly cosmopolites like those found in Aspinwall. The 
English and French languages are everywhere spoken, and 
the best stores, restaurants, and bar-rooms are managed in 
either the French or the American fashion. There is a very 
good daily newspaper, called the " Star and Herald," which 
consists of eight pages, a third of it being printed in English, 
a third in French, and a third in Spanish. Moreover, these 
three sections are adapted to the interests of the separate 
classes of readers represented by the respective languages, in 
that they do not contain altogether the same matter, except, 
of course, the important cable and telegraphic dispatches. 
The paper sells for ten cents, silver. 



CHAPTER II. 

ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 

Fkom Panama I took one of the (British) Pacific Steam 
Navigation Company's vessels for the chief seaport of Ecua- 
dor. She was the Ilo, a steamer of about fifteen hundred 
tons burden, upon whose upper deck, running flush from 
stem to stern were a double row of commodious state-rooms 
and a large and finely-upholstered dining-saloon, the whole 
surrounded with ample room to promenade. The hatch- 
ways, with steam winches for loading and unloading cargo, 
were placed nearly at the sides of the steamer instead of 
along the center, as is usual. This novel arrangement had 
several advantages for the passengers. Above the roof of 
the dining-saloon and state-rooms an awning was spread, and 
from this elevated position a good breeze and an extended 
view were readily obtainable. As a slight testimony to the 
prevailing lawlessness and insecurity of life in the South 
American states, our steamer carried a stand of muskets and 
cutlasses in the pilot-house, precisely as was formerly the cus- 
tom with vessels exposed to predatory visits of Malay pirates 
in the East India and China Sea navigation. There were on 
board about thirty passengers, bound for various towns along 
the coast, but mostly for Guayaquil and Callao. The first- 
class fare from Panama to Guayaquil, a passage of but little 
more than three days, was one hundred and two dollars, 
American gold ! This was the most expensive voyage that 
I remember ever to have made in any part of the world. It 
was a fit companion to the Panama Railroad extortion just ex- 
perienced. But when did a monopoly have a conscience ? 



10 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

As I was rapidly nearing the lands of Pizarro and Alma- 
gro, I thought it well to begin at once the practice of the 
pure Castilian which I flattered myself I had recently ac- 
quired with considerable zeal and effort in New York. My 
first victims were unsuspecting sons of Peru and Chili, who 
waited upon table, and whose profiles I was sure I had seen 
on some terra-cotta pitchers in the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art. They listened to me anxiously but kindly, frequently 
repeating my questions with an accent different from mine. 
This I attributed to the fact that they had not before had the 
good fortune to hear their dulcet tongue spoken with such 
purity as by the natives of Madrid, Manila, Havana, or New 
York. I was not hurt — I only pitied the unsophisticated de- 
scendants of the Incas. But when occasionally I received an 
answer in curt English to my precise and melodious Spanish, 
I marveled greatly that they did not understand better their 
own language, and should prefer to address me in one hardly 
known to themselves and now so rapidly fading from my 
memory. I frankly admit that I wondered, but I was not 
utterly crushed — as the reader might with great show of rea- 
son suspect — for the above linguistic experience is not unfa- 
miliar to the circumnavigator. 

On the 23d of June we crossed the equator. Eight hun- 
dred miles to the westward of the mainland of Ecuador, and 
under the line of the equator, lie the Galapagos Islands, an 
archipelago of a dozen mountainous and almost barren islands 
of volcanic origin, which, though mostly uninhabited, belong 
politically to the Republic of Ecuador. A very interesting 
feature in this lonely group is that furnished by the singu- 
larity of their indigenous animals. Species abound of reptiles 
and birds quite unknown to every other part of the world. 
Among them are twenty-four species of land birds, a re- 
markable kind of turtle, a gigantic tortoise, two extraordi- 
nary species of lizards, and several peculiar snakes. The 
nearest allied forms to these isolated species are found upon 
the distant mainland. But still more remarkable than the 
fact of these species being unknown to every part of the 



ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 11 

world, is the circumstance that some of them are restricted 
to certain islands of the group, with species allied but quite 
distinct on another island. The clew to the explanation of 
these peculiar phenomena of geographical distribution will 
doubtless be found in the fact that the islands are separated 
from each other by deep channels, with strong currents, and, 
being volcanic, and having emerged from the sea, must have 
been separately elevated by subterranean forces and can 
never, at any time, have been closely connected with the ad- 
joining continent, or with each other. They were probably 
peopled by their present stock of animals at so very remote 
a period as to have allowed time for much variation in the 
characters of the species. Intermigration has been pre- 
vented by the above-mentioned reasons, and so an isolated 
development of a most interesting and instructive character 
has been brought about by natural means and great lapse of 
time. A penal colony of Ecuadorians was once planted on 
one of the larger islands of the group. But the convicts re- 
volted, killed the governor, and escaped, leaving behind pigs, 
cattle, donkeys, and horses. ~No one was suspected to have 
lived there since that time. But a party from the Albatross 
Expedition were rather surprised, when they visited the 
island, to come upon another Alexander Selkirk, a man near- 
ly naked, carrying a pig on his back. He was quite as sur- 
prised as they, and was at first in great fear ; but finally they 
got him to talk. His hair and beard had grown to great 
length, and he had lost all notion of time. He said that 
some years previous he had come from Chatham Island, an- 
other of the group, with a party in search of a certain valu- 
able moss ; that he had deserted his companions, who had 
gone ofi without him, and that since that time he had been 
alone. He had lived on fruits and herbs ; had captured wild 
cattle by setting traps for them ; killed them with a spear 
made by tying a pocket-knife to a stick, and from their hides 
made a hut. He was glad to see men again, and asked to be 
taken back to Chatham, which, of course, was granted. 

We soon entered the Gulf of Guayaquil, and, turning 



12 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

about, headed toward the north. The country in sight was 
level in the foreground, with pretty, wooded hills stretching 
away in the distance. At our fore was now hoisted the 
Ecuadorian flag — three broad, longitudinal stripes, yellow, 
blue, and red, typifying, it was understood, that the blue 
ocean now separated bloodthirsty Spaniards from the yellow 
gold of Ecuador. We pass two national men-of-war, merely 
small trading-steamers of about five hundred tons burden each, 
without armor-plating, and mounting only a few small guns. 
Then came some ships, but no merchant-steamers. A little 
farther on we anchor near the shore and abreast of the market- 
place of Guayaquil. All that appears of the low-lying, level 
city from the gulf is a long row of houses of yellow and white 
bamboo and stucco, and of varying altitudes, with tiled roofs 
and piazzas, large windows fitted with green Venetian blinds 
and bamboo or canvas awnings. The buildings are generally 
arranged as stores below and dwelling-rooms above. The side- 
walk passes through a corridor of the buildings, as is usual in 
Ecuadorian towns. A few twin church-towers, of odd, Ori- 
ental styles, rise in different directions. On a hill east of the 
city there seems to be a small fort. Along the bank runs a 
tramway with double-decked cars drawn by mules. Donkey- 
carts and loaded pack-mules pass. A brass band is heard, 
and I see a slow procession headed by a priest, and a great 
wood and tinsel figure of the Virgin Mary borne upon the 
shoulders of six men. The object of this religious parade is 
to take up a collection to help build a church. While ob- 
serving that subscriptions do not seem to flow in any more 
rapidly than they do at home under the incitement of stained 
glass, flowers, and an organ voluntary, my attention is sud- 
denly drawn to a huge alligator, fully fifteen feet in length, 
swimming with horrible, gaping jaws down the swiftly run- 
ning tide of the gulf. 

The captain of the port and other Ecuadorian officials 
come off to our steamer, all with great display of gay bunting 
and uniforms, and no deficiency of self-appreciation. Native 
fruit-sellers, with huge boat-loads of bananas and pineapples, 



ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 13 

also approach and beg eagerly for patronage. Going on 
shore I am passed through the custom-house with a hurried 
examination of my baggage, and soon find a comfortable 
room in the " Hotel de Europa." Guayaquil is not only the 
commercial seaport of Quito, the capital, but of all Ecuador, 
and in walking through the streets — many of them paved 
and lighted with gas — I am struck by the very great variety 
and general good quality of the merchandise exposed for 
sale. The number of drinking-shops, where fiery liquors are 
sold, is, however, disproportionately large. On most of the 
leading thoroughfares are mule tram-cars. From behind the 
curtains of many of the deep, latticed balconies, which hang 
midway over the streets, I often caught glimpses of flashing 
black eyes, velvety cheeks of pearly hue, raven tresses, and 
cherry-ripe lips. This was all that was vouchsafed me, for 
the senoritas of Ecuador, as of Old Spain, are extremely coy. 
One of the churches has such a very Chinese-looking pair of 
pyramidal towers, that I half expected to find some natives 
of distant Cathay lounging about its carved wooden portals. 
I called at a neighboring bamboo convent and was cordially 
received by some of the old padres. Their cells were bare 
of furniture, as usual, though the walls were covered with re- 
ligious pictures and texts. A great number of empty brandy- 
bottles were hidden behind a door, and some of the red-faced 
and very corpulent old monks showed only too plainly where 
the contents had recently gone. 

The old route to Quito was first by steamboat, seventy 
ftniles up the Guayas River, in one day, to a town called 
Bodegas, and then one hundred and sixty-five miles in seven 
or eight days, on mule-back, over the flank of Chimborazo and 
the lofty table-lands of the valley, to the capital. But a new 
route, which I proposed to follow, permitted two other varie- 
ties of travel — namely, railroad and diligence. This led al- 
most directly eastward, over the Andes, until we reached the 
great valley of Quito, when we proceeded nearly due north 
to our goal. I was fortunate enough to have as companions 
on this journey Mr. Kelly, the contractor, and Mr. Mali- 



14 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

nowski, the engineer, of the new railway. Mr. Kelly has 
already had considerable experience in railway construction 
in Central America, while Mr. Malinowski is one of the best- 
known men in his profession in South America, having been 
engaged with Mr. Meiggs in the building of the famous 
Oroya Railroad from Lima eastward over the Cordillera. 
He had been employed at a large salary to lay out the new 
Ecuadorian line toward the great central highway of the 
country and possibly to Quito itself. Both of these gentle- 
men were fine linguists, thoroughly conversant with the cus- 
toms of the natives and with the best methods of traveling, 
and I was greatly indebted to them for many hints on what 
proved to be a hard and exhausting trip. My preparations 
for mountain-travel were soon complete. I procured a 
saddle, with metal stirrups, stout crupper and breeching, 
bridle, lariat, a pair of spurs with rowels fully two inches in 
diameter, rubber and woolen ponchos or cloaks, rubber cover 
for a huge felt hat, canvas leggings, leather gloves, and stout 
shoes. A revolver was worn more for intimidation than be- 
cause the need to use it was probable. A large gunny-bag 
contained the entire mule outfit. Then my clothes were 
snugly packed in two mule-trunks — stout, tin-covered boxes, 
about twenty-four inches long, fifteen wide, and fifteen deep ; 
these were not to be opened until I reached Quito. A small 
leather bag contained material for use upon the road. The 
native inns are without exception ill-furnished and filthy, 
and their food and cooking are not at all adapted to foreign 
palates. So it would be well for the traveler, who wishes 
some degree of comfort, to take a supply of canned food and 
wines, together with knives, forks, and plates. Nor would a 
mattress and pillow come at all amiss. 

"We left Guayaquil on the evening of Friday, the 26th, in 
a diminutive high-pressure steamboat, bound eastward to a 
little town called Yaguachi, on a small river of the same 
name, which flows into the Guayas, and where the railway 
begins. I had not been on board an hour before a severe 
headache, from which I had suffered all the afternoon, sud- 



ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 15 

denly developed into a sharp attack of the Guayaquil fever 
— a sort of bilious fever, accompanied with terrific pains in 
the crown and back of the head, in the small of the back, 
and in the thighs. Severe vomiting ensued. My pulse 
mounted with fearful rapidity, and some of the Ecuadorian 
passengers were at first of the opinion that I was afflicted 
with the dreaded yellow fever. In fact, a bad bilious fever 
resembles, in the beginning, a mild attack of Yellow Jack. 
During the night I was delirious, but in the morning the 
fever had greatly abated, though the pain in the head con- 
tinued, and I was too weak to stand. I took at once a strong 
purgative and afterward powerful doses of quinine. When 
the first sharp attack came on, the Ecuadorians gave me a 
great quantity of the strong native brandy, called aguardi- 
ente, made from sugar-cane. This stopped the pain in the 
back but rather increased that in the head. However, it was 
a relief to have such severe pain in one place instead of two. 
The Guayas River was muddy, and ran with a swift cur- 
rent, which bore along many small floating islands of reeds 
and flowers of varied species, which perhaps resembled the 
chinampas of Montezuma's Mexico. The banks seemed al- 
most uninhabited ; they were low, and covered with a dense 
growth of bananas, plantains, and palms. In the distance 
were many gracefully outlined and jungle-clad hills. We 
had a remarkably fine view by moonlight of the great Chim- 
borazo, from its very summit down to the snow limit. The 
appearance of this wonderful mountain has been so often de- 
scribed that I will merely say that its solitariness and mass- 
iveness are the qualities which most impress one. It is nearly 
covered in a winding-sheet of purest snow and ice, though 
the tempests seem to have bared great streaks on its rugged 
sides. When upon the plateau of Quito, we are nearly two 
miles high, which greatly dwarfs Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and 
the neighboring Andean giants, so that our unusually clear 
view from the level of the sea showed the celebrated mount- 
ain to the best advantage. We reached Yaguachi about 
midnight, and found a good supper ready for us in the sta- 



10 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

tion-house of the Southern Eailway of Ecuador, and a little 
later comfortable sleeping-rooms in the second story of the 
same building. We had advanced about fifty miles. 

The next morning at daybreak we entered the cars of the 
first and only railway yet built in the Eepublic of Ecuador. 
This railway was then about fifty miles in length, and has 
since been extended twenty miles more. It is a narrow- 
gauge line, with steel rails, and very diminutive cars and 
locomotives, which were built in Pennsylvania. As upon 
the Isthmus of Panama, the engineers are foreigners, the 
firemen and brakemen natives. But one trip a day is made, 
the train in which we went not returning until the following 
day. The rate of speed is about ten miles an hour, though 
even this is occasionally somewhat reduced by accidents to 
the rolling-gear, the steam becoming low, or some other 
avoidable mishap. There are no cuttings or fillings of any 
extent on the whole line, and the grade is easy except for a 
short distance near the mountains at the eastern extremity 
of the line. You cross about fifty small streams on wooden 
bridges. The road traverses a magnificent tropical jungle 
throughout its entire extent. The vegetation largely repre- 
sents the bread-fruit, banana, India-rubber, papaya, cacao, 
coffee, pineapple, orange, lemon, mango and cocoa-palm. 
The forest is so dense that not only can ycu not make a way 
into it, but you can not even look into it. Creepers and 
climbers extend in every direction, hang from every limb, 
and cover every trunk. They cross each other, they run 
parallel like telegraph wires, they interlace and braid the 
smaller shrubbery, until it seems like a solid mass of glossy 
verdure. Very many trees are covered with orchids in vari- 
ous gay colors, a splendid blood-red predominating. At the 
terminus of the railway we found our saddle-mules and don- 
keys for the baggage waiting in the care of muleteers. Here 
ensued a scene of great confusion and a long delay. As 
with all tropic children, an immense amount of discussion 
about the veriest trifles had to be indulged in, and very many 
wrangles had to be calmed and adjusted. Then we break- 



ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 17 

fasted in a neighboring house — a simple bamboo structure 
raised upon wooden piles and having a thick, straw-thatched 
roof. The breakfast consisted of the popular native dish, 
potato-soup — not bad, but still not very nutritious ; broiled 
chicken, fresh killed and therefore tough ; eggs, fried in 
cocoanut-oil ; and a most delicious large pineapple. Then 
we were off through the virgin forests, up hill and down 
dale, fording raging mountain torrents, crossing frail bamboo 
bridges, scrambling along precipices, toiling in and out of 
gluey bogs, and brushing through tangled thickets. A great 
part of the road was simply a series of holes, a foot or so in 
depth, worn and hollowed by rain and much travel, and in 
and out of which our mules had to step with most laborious 
slowness. We were mounted, however, upon good stout 
animals that possessed all the surety and safety of step pecul- 
iar to their race. They are extremely gentle creatures, rare- 
ly having even the expected attribute of obstinacy. Their 
memory is exceedingly imperfect, and requires to be con- 
tinually jogged with the spurs. The natives, when riding, 
play a constant tattoo upon the flanks of their mules, in order 
to obtain uniform and satisfactory progress, though they al- 
ways allow the animals to select the part of the road which 
they prefer. A good mule in Ecuador is more expensive 
than a good horse. Donkeys are employed in the transport 
of baggage, and good donkeys will carry as much as a mule 
can, or two hundred and fifty pounds. As they wear no 
head-gear, they are not led, but are driven in troops by mule- 
teers. About a dozen of them were required to carry all 
our baggage. We rode slowly forward, with magnificent 
forest and mountain views on every hand, until at dusk we 
reached the farm-house of a friend of Mr. Kelly's, where we 
stopped for the night. Round about the country was plant- 
ed with coffee, sugar-cane, and orange and lemon trees. A 
primitive press for extracting the juice of the sugar-cane, and 
a huge copper caldron for boiling the liquid, were located 
near the house. The master was absent on business in Guay- 
aquil, but his daughter, a beautiful girl of eighteen, made us 
2 



18 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

most welcome and did the honors with a native grace that 
elicited the warmest praise from even such old campaigners 
as my critical companions. In the absence of her father the 
young lady was administering the entire estate, and it was 
extremely interesting to watch her direct half a dozen men 
in their diverse duties in as many minutes. She treated us 
to some very fair food, though it is generally necessary for 
foreigners to acquire a liking for the products of an Ecua- 
dorian kitchen. Into nearly everything are put cheese, gar- 
lic, and oil or fat, and of course the frying-pan is in frequent 
request. They have an odd practice of serving two kinds 
of soup at a meal, the second coming near the conclusion, and 
being followed perhaps by a sweet — some sort of cake or 
jelly. They keep strong coffee-extract already prepared in a 
bottle, and serve it at your discretion with hot water or 
boiled milk. A proper degree of cleanliness is lacking, both. 
at table and in bedrooms, but it is quite the same in all 
Spanish countries — in the Philippine and West India Islands, 
and even in European Spain herself. 



CHAPTEE III. 

OVEK THE COEDILLEEA. 

We went on early in the morning and experienced a day 
of terrible roads and wild torrents, but with most magnificent 
scenic treats. The views of umbrageous valleys and huge 
hills more than repaid me for the rough travel. All nature 
was on a tremendous scale ; even the hillocks were several 
thousand feet in height. At night we reached a small In- 
dian village far up among the hills, and found quarters in 
a wretched wayside inn. This building was of sun-dried 
mud, with a straw-thatch atop. "We had but two very small 
rooms, and both were full of spiders, fleas, and other insect 
pests. We improvised a dining-table out of an empty pro- 
vision-box, and put down our beds in the inner room, vir- 
tually a cellar with a mud floor. On awakening in the morn- 
ing, I spoke of a rat which had playfully coursed about my 
head during the night ; but one of my companions said it 
must have been a mouse, for the room was really too small 
to admit a rat. I sighed deeply, and turned over for another 
nap. On our arrival in the village, a market was in progress 
in the plaza or great square. The Indians had for sale barley, 
maize, meat, and oranges. The mestizoes, or half-castes, that 
I had seen since leaving Guayaquil reminded me strongly of i 
the Siamese in facial appearance and, to some extent, in their 
good-natured but apathetic manner. Most of the people in 
Ecuador, and the rest of South America as well, belong to 
the mixed races. They are, for the most part, inoffensive 
and uncivilized. To be precise, there are actually seven racial 
varieties in South America : 1. Foreigners, among whom are 



20 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Spaniards and Portuguese. 2. Creoles, descendants of Eu- 
ropeans and North Americans settled in the country. 3. 
Mestizoes, offspring of Europeans and North Americans and 
Indians. 4. Mulattoes, offspring of Europeans and North 
Americans and negroes. 5. Zamboes, offspring of Indians 
and negroes. G. Indians. 7. Negroes. The whites, who 
are, of course, the ruling class, are principally the descend- 
ants of the early Spanish settlers in all the countries save 
Brazil, where the settlers were Portuguese. The Indian 
population of Quito and its neighborhood are descendants of 
the aboriginal tribes. They are still more apathetic than the 
mestizoes. They are also shorter and stouter, with broad 
faces and great shocks of strong black hair. Their language 
is the Quichua, one of the most polished and widely diffused 
of all native American tongues, formerly spoken everywhere 
in the empire of the Incas. They wear coarse cotton shirts 
and trousers, and the always graceful and picturesque poncho. 
The poncho, it is hardly necessary nowadays to describe, is 
simply an oblong piece of gay-colored woolen stuff with a 
small slit in the center, through which the head is thrust. 
On their feet they wear straw sandals, or more generally go 
barefoot. The women, who are no better-looking than the 
men, wear a long skirt of a coarse, dun-colored fabric. They 
do a great part of the heavy loading and unloading of mer- 
chandise, which rather unsexes them and makes them pre- 
maturely old. As we entered the market, the priest and a 
number of young men were engaged in playing a game 
astonishingly like our popular lawn-tennis. The priest we 
found not only to be sadly in need of a bath and clean clothes, 
but of temperance principles as well, for he was exceedingly 
drunk. He assumed so important an air that we could scarce 
repress our smiles in his very face. Near here I first saw 
the gentle and useful llama, the peculiar beast that figures 
upon the escutcheon of Peru, and the only native domesti- 
cated animal in South America. They move with a most 
graceful, swan-like motion, and resemble somewhat the camel, 
though inferior to it in size, strength, and intelligence. They 



OVER THE CORDILLERA. 21 

will carry loads of about one hundred pounds fifteen miles a 
day. Their only weapon is their saliva, which is very acrid, 
and which they eject in a similar fashion to that employed 
in his self-defense by our very pretty but also very unsavory 
skunk. 

The next day was a hard one of mountain scramble, con- 
tinually ascending until we left the forests behind, and found 
instead vast fields of coarse grass and stunted shrubs. The 
cold was intense at night, which we were compelled to pass 
in a mud-hut hardly fit for cattle, and one of my companions 
suffered from the rarefaction of the air. The hard ground 
was our floor, and piles of hay laid on boughs our luxurious 
couches. We awoke quite stiff from the cold. As we jour- 
neyed on, the hills were swept by furious winds. The In- 
dians, clad in goat-skin trousers, had adopted the profession 
of shepherds, and large flocks of sheep and goats dotted the 
hills, while cattle, large and sleek, lent a homelike aspect to 
the landscape. After traversing some very dreary plains, at 
noon we reached the old ruined city of Latacunga, and rat- 
tled through its desolate streets to the inn. Latacunga has 
suffered so much from earthquakes that it is even now half 
in ruins. The houses are built of pumice, and are but one 
story in height. Leaving this town, we entered upon a very 
fine carriage-road, the work of a former Ecuadorian President, 
G. Garcia Moreno. This road, which runs to the capital, 
Quito, cost two million dollars. It is about thirty feet in 
width, with a deep ditch on each side. It was not necessary 
to macadamize it, for the clay of the country packs almost 
as solidly as rock. In certain steep inclines, however, it is 
paved with cobble-stones, as are the bridges — handsome arches 
of stone and brick most substantially built — and also the 
twenty miles of it nearest the capital. At night we reached 
a place called Chuquipoyo, on the southeastern flank of Chim- 
borazo, which from the inn piazza seemed startlingly near, 
as well as almost insignificantly small and easy of ascent. It 
should be noticed that Chuquipoyo is nearly thirteen thou- 
sand feet above sea-level, and that the atmosphere at this 



22 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

altitude is remarkably clear. I was afterward similarly de- 
ceived, and to my cost, in ascending Popocatepetl. From 
where I spent the night, also at an altitude of about thirteen 
thousand feet, it seemed as if one might get to the summit 
easily in a couple of hours ; but it was an eight hours' severe 
climb. At Chuquipoyo we all suffered greatly from the 
peculiarly penetrating quality of the cold atmosphere. We 
were almost immediately on the equator, and yet we shiv- 
ered with two heavy blankets beneath and five over us. In 
the morning we went northward, across a vast treeless desert, 
swept by furious winds and gusts of fine sand, past a deserted 
village called Mocha, and on again until, early in the after- 
noon, we reached Ambato, the interior town next in impor- 
tance to Quito, or the third town of the republic. The 
houses are built of sun-dried brick, whitewashed, and their 
roofs are covered with red tiles. We straggled up a long 
street, narrow but nicely paved, and with a central gutter, 
to the chief inn, but it had no better accommodation and 
was no cleaner than the others. Here we found the diligence 
which was to take us to Quito. It was an English-made 
coach, holding eight inside and six outside passengers, drawn 
by six mules, and driven by a coachman assisted by two pos- 
tilions. As we had engaged nearly all the seats, we decided 
to detain the coach until the following morning, to await the 
arrival of our baggage, coming on the slow donkeys, and also 
to obtain a night's rest, which we all sadly needed. In the 
evening the native governor called upon us and presented us 
with a bottle of champagne. 

We made an early start, our baggage being heaped on 
top of the coach, one of the postilions blowing a bugle, and 
the coachman driving furiously along the narrow streets of 
the town. Reaching the open country, it was interesting to 
notice the native method of driving the mules. For the 
wheelers a short whip is employed, for the next pair a long- 
handled one, while the leaders are peppered by one of the 
postilions, with unerring aim, with pebbles stored in the 
coachman's box for that express purpose. All these instiga- 



OVER THE CORDILLERA. 23 

tors, together with shouts, exhortations, anathemas, shrill 
whistling, and blowing of the bugle, are kept up unremittingly 
from the beginning to the end of each stage, whether it is ten 
or twenty miles in length. Should the mules flag from a gal- 
lop, or a swift and steady trot, or even drop to a walk, as they 
are naturally constrained to do at the foot of very steep hills, 
the postilions dismount and running, one on either side, deal 
such fearful blows with their coarse whip-lashes of bull's hide 
that I almost feared the poor little brutes would be bisected. 
They were certain to arrive at the end of the stage horribly 
chafed, bleeding, and utterly exhausted. The diligence com- 
pany does not provide suitable mules for the service, although 
it is well able to do so, since but one trip a week is made, and the 
charge is six dollars for an inside and four for an outside seat. 
A first-class passenger is allowed only twenty pounds of bag- 
gage free, and for extra baggage must pay at a high rate. The 
distance from Ambato to Quito is seventy-five miles, and the 
time allowed two days. We enjoyed always splendid views 
of the sharp, smooth cone of Cotopaxi upon our right, the 
steep and jagged Iliniza upon our left, and behind us the 
massive dome of Chimborazo. We had sent a courier for- 
ward to engage fresh mules at an inn nearly opposite, and 
not five miles distant from the base of Cotopaxi, which has 
the same deceptive appearance of accessibility as has Chimbo- 
razo from Chuquipoyo, but upon arriving we were surprised 
to find that our order had been ignored. This caused us a 
delay of a night, and we suspected that the courier and land- 
lord had " put their heads together " to compel us to patron- 
ize the inn. During the afternoon we had passed an enor- 
mous flow of lava, rocks, and sand, the eruption from Coto- 
paxi in 1868. Once we were obliged to dismount and walk 
for a long distance, where a great stone bridge and the road 
had been torn away. In the plain before Cotopaxi there is a 
huge, smooth mound, of oval shape, which the natives claim 
was reared by the old Incas in honor of some of their divini- 
ties. It seems almost too enormous for such an explanation, 
for it is very much larger than those of our old Indian mound- 



24 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

builders in the Western United States. "We were favored 
with a view of Cotopaxi by moonlight — a magnificent sight, 
with its sides of vari-colored lava, its long patches of black 
sand, and its great fields of the purest white snow and blue 
ice. 

At daybreak we were off with fresh mules and a mounted 
horse, attached to our team simply by his tail as leader, and 
in this odd manner he proved a powerful aid. We had a 
long and weary ascent, and then began gradually to descend 
into a beautiful green valley that bore quite a resemblance to 
valleys that may be found in the northern part of England. 
There were smooth, velvety meadows, well-cultivated fields, 
and hedge-rows for fences. We breakfasted in the vestibule 
of a native inn with this lovely scene before us, and then 
hurried on to the end of our journey. The road was now 
paved, and we had another long and winding ascent, and then 
the number of pack-trains we met, the number of natives 
traveling on their prancing and caracoling steeds, and the 
more frequent collections of huts, betokened our near ap- 
proach to the capital Before us rose the volcano of Pichin- 
cha, the summit of which is only five hours' travel from the 
metropolis, while away to the right loomed the double-domed 
Antisana and square-topped Cayambi. Not long afterward 
faintly appeared the red roofs and white walls of Quito, and 
soon we were rattling through the Indian suburbs and along 
the narrow streets of low, two-story houses, their little bal- 
conies full of people to see the coach pass — the great event of 
the week. I bore a letter of introduction to a Danish gentle- 
man, who had been ten years in Quito, where he had made a 
large fortune as a druggist. This gentleman very kindly en- 
gaged for me two large rooms on one of the principal streets, 
with a native boy to take care of them and to bring me coffee 
and rolls early in the morning. For the more substantial 
meals of breakfast and dinner he offered me a seat with a 
party of English and French speaking friends, at the best res- 
taurant of the city, a French establishment. When one has 
not his own cook, this is the approved method of living, there 



OVER THE CORDILLERA. 25 

being no hotel as we understand the term — that is, no place 
where both rooms and meals are furnished. For use of the 
restaurant I had to pay one dollar, for my rooms two dollars per 
day. The latter were large and well furnished, according to 
the Spanish, or, more precisely, Ecuadorian idea of comfort 
and elegance. In my parlor there was a lavish display of 
glass-ware, porcelain vases, trinkets, and paper flowers. There 
were as many as five small tables in the room. Two large 
windows opened upon balconies overlooking the street. The 
bedroom had but one window, tilled with iron bars like a 
prison-cell, and open toward the court-yard. A noticeable 
feature of the doors was their enormous locks, with keys four 
inches long and weighing a pound or more. Since, on ac- 
count of the petty thieving prevalent, the rooms must be 
kept locked, the carrying of one of these Bastile rivals be- 
comes almost necessary, though exceedingly irksome. A 
stone staircase from the street, and a brick-paved corridor, 
ornamented with flowers, gave access to the rooms. 

At last I am settled in Quito, just three weeks and two 
days from the time of leaving New York city — one day being 
spent in Panama and two days in Guayaquil. The time occu- 
pied on the journey from Guayaquil to the capital was seven 
days, and the distance thus traversed about two hundred 
miles. Here in Quito, before I set out to make any special 
study of the place, I am struck by the lighter complexion of 
the people than of those dwelling nearer the coast. This is 
explained by their living at a greater altitude rather than by 
their possessing purer strains of blood. The next striking 
peculiarity is the dress of the men, or perhaps I should- say 
the full-dress of the gentlemen, who wear high black silk hats, 
black broadcloth frock-coats, black kid gloves, and carry orna- 
mental canes. These indications of other and very different 
civilizations seem about as much out of place as would Hin- 
dostanee turbans or Indian war-plumes. Always noticeable 
and interesting are the horsemen and their beautiful horses. 
One hardly kuows which to admire the more, the perfect seat 
and pose of the rider or the perfect form and gait of the animal. 



26 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

The following day being the Sabbath, I visited the cathe- 
dral, where high mass was being celebrated in presence of the 
archbishop and a consistory of bishops. The cathedral occu- 
pies one side of the principal square, and opposite is the pal- 
ace of the archbishop. On the north side is the Capitol, and 
on the remaining side the private residence of an old and very 
wealthy Spanish family. The plaza or square is laid out with 
flowers and shrubs and paved paths, which intersect each other 
at a central stone fountain. The outside view of the cathe- 
dral is more quaint than imposing. There is a large green- 
tiled dome, and a facade with small windows and a piazza. 
The doors are covered with carvings and huge metal bosses. 
Inside the flooring is of brick, while the roof is of carved 
wood richly gilded or painted red. A number of very large 
paintings of no great merit cover the walls. The altar dis- 
played the usual tawdry collection of flowers, candles, pict- 
ures, and effigies, and the stalls of the bishops were ranged 
about it in horseshoe-form. As is usual in all churches, both 
Protestant and Catholic, the greater number of the worship- 
ers were women, though here they were of every shade of 
color and of every social grade. Some of the upper-class 
young girls were pretty, though I looked in vain for the rav- 
ishing beauties I had been told to expect. Their stature is 
rather below the average of their "North American sisters. 
They wore red or blue dresses, high-heeled kid slippers shod 
with metal, and always the picturesque black shawl or man- 
tilla, richly embroidered in silk, and, though worn coquet- 
tislily over the head, yet not concealing the face, which fre- 
quently displayed traces of paint and always of powder. 
Rings adorned their fingers, but no other jewelry was visi- 
ble. The elder women were clothed wholly in somber black, 
and frequently covered all the face save the eyes. These 
women had doubtless outlived their beauty. Almost every 
woman carried a prayer-book, and a prayer- cloth or stool on 
which to kneel. Occasionally these necessary articles would 
be borne by a servant. The women wear neither hats nor 
gloves. The gentlemen, in addition to the dark clothes al- 



OYER TEE CORDILLERA. 27 

ready spoken of, wore black cloaks of a fashion that remind- 
ed me of the conventional " heavy villain " in the theatres at 
home. This resemblance was increased by the flashing black 
eyes, fierce mustache, or forked beard. I could not avoid 
observing the democratic footing of the congregation. The 
dirtiest poncho-coveved. Indian jostled the most aristocratic 
cloth-cloaked hidalgo, the daintiest serioritas and the women 
who tend cattle knelt together in the same chapels. A fine 
organ, artistically handled, and a competent choir, furnished 
the sensuous music always provided in Catholic churches. 
As I left the cathedral a battalion of native troops passed on 
its way to the Jesuit church, and I followed. The Ecua- 
dorian army numbers about a thousand men and boys, part 
stationed in Guayaquil and a part in the capital. The troops 
are neatly uniformed in blue cloth with red facings and trim- 
mings, and armed with old Kemington rifles. Many of the 
cartridge-boxes also came originally from the same place, and 
were plainly marked " IT. S." The battalion was largely com- 
posed of boys, marshaled without any reference to size. It 
was preceded by a brass band of about thirty instrumentalists 
and was followed by about twenty buglers. The step was 
very quick, and the band played very fair music, which 
sounded comparatively fine as it reverberated through the 
arches of the church. This church has a remarkably hand- 
some carved facade. It is about the only example of really 
beautiful stone carving remaining in Quito. The great 
wooden doors are also elaborately carved, though in a more 
modern style than the fagade. The altar is very massively 
and richly gilded, and the walls of the nave are ornamented 
with raised tile- work pictures which are very effective as seen 
from below. Near the door is a remarkable picture of the 
tortures of hell. Lucifer is seen sitting in state upon his hell- 
hounds, and directs the infernal proceedings. The offense 
of each victim is painted in plain letters near him. The 
tortures consist in being devoured by various animals, pierced 
by knives, in being made to swallow melted lead, and in 
other ingenious inventions of delirious cruelty. 



CHAPTER IY. 

QUITO — PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 

The system of the Andes is the longest in the world, 
though not the highest, that being the Himalaya. The 
Andes lie in parallel ranges, which inclose elevated valleys. 
This plateau and mountain section are from one hundred to 
two hundred and fifty miles in width. Quito lies nearly at 
the northern extremity of a valley, or, more properly, of an 
elevated plateau, which extends from the borders of Peru to 
the United States of Colombia, a distance of about four hun- 
dred miles. This plateau, which is nearly two miles above 
the sea-level, has an average width, throughout, of about 
forty miles, and is shut in from the rest of the world, as it 
were, by the giant ranges of the Cordillera, one of which I 
had crossed in my journey from Guayaquil. Entering upon 
the plateau, I found a " right royal " road, lined with gigantic 
sentinels of rock and ice and snow, many of them the lofti- 
est and most famous peaks in the world. From one of the 
neighboring hills I obtained a good general view of the city, 
which slopes gradually toward the east and extends over the 
spurs of several hills that cause very abrupt irregularities of 
surface. It is laid out nearly at right angles, with neatly 
paved streets but very narrow sidewalks. Each landholder 
is obliged every day to brush that part of the public thor- 
oughfare before his property. He is also compelled at night 
to display a candle, and with these alone is the city lighted, 
save in the great square, where kerosene-lamps are substi- 
tuted. A fine of forty cents for each offense is imposed 
upon those who neglect to sweep or illuminate their portion 




Professional Mourners. 



QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 29 

of the public streets. Quito lias a decidedly monotonous ap- 
pearance as viewed from an eminence. There are only three 
or four church edifices and towers to vary the dull uniform- 
ity of the houses ; and the streets themselves, rarely more 
than twenty feet in width, make but slight marks of divis- 
ion. The roofs of most of the houses project over the nar- 
row sidewalks, thus affording some shelter to pedestrians in 
the rainy season. The streets seem always filled with people, 
both on foot and on horseback, and the rnany-colored^>cwcAtfs 
worn produce a gay effect. Several of the more wealthy 
residents possess carriages. I saw the President and his fam- 
ily taking the air in an elegant barouche, and the Yice-Presi- 
dent walking in the conventional funeral black which seems 
so incongruous in such a latitude, with such primitive sur- 
roundings. The climate of Quito, which lies nearly under 
the equator, is delightful — a spring the year round. 

One morning I visited one of the cemeteries, where the 
poor are consigned to the ground and the rich inclosed in 
mural vaults or niches, as in Italy and other European coun- 
tries. I found a great excavation in the hill-side, which had 
been bricked around and arranged in three terraces of niches, 
each of the latter numbered and just large enough to hold a 
coffin. When the bodies are thus disposed of, the tombs are 
sealed and covered with the customary inscriptions. Should 
the rent for these niches be in default for two years, the bones 
may be removed from the coffins and thrown into a general 
receptacle like a cistern. I saw several coffins whose con- 
tents had been unceremoniously disposed of in this manner. 
One would suppose that such a threat of ejectment would 
be unnecessary among people with means above abject pov- 
erty, but I was informed that this was not the case, and that 
frequently the bodies of the rich found their way at last to 
the common grave. A neighboring chapel is reserved for 
masses for the repose of the souls bodily represented in the 
cemetery. Near by is a large brick building, filled with 
cells in which during Lent many of the pious ladies and gen- 
tlemen of Quito spend days in flagellation and other ascetic 



30 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

practices, as a slight atonement for the frivolities of their 
lives during the preceding year. 

Not far from the cemetery is the penitentiary, a large 
brick and stone building, guarded by troops, and surrounded 
by a wall twenty feet in height. It was erected by an Eng- 
lish engineer a few years ago, and seems admirably adapted 
to its purposes. Six long and narrow " wings," three sto- 
ries in height, converge at a central, dome-covered building, 
whence the guards may have a clear view of all that is pass- 
ing in them. One building is reserved for women. Alto- 
gether there are some five hundred cells, which average 
eight by five feet in size, with brick floors and small barred win- 
dows. During times of revolution the prisoners are largely 
of a political type, but ordinarily they are confined for theft 
and murder. The murders are often the results of street 
brawls committed under the influence of liquor. The wom- 
en, strange to say, are imprisoned for similar crimes. The 
men, as with us, are obliged to work out their salvation with 
some trade, such as candle-making, tailoring, and carpenter- 
ing. As an illustration of the extraordinary changes of for- 
tune seen every day in Ecuador, the officer who showed me 
through the penitentiary was once himself confined in it and 
for the grave crime of murder. He had struck a man, who 
had died from the effects of the blow. He was tried, but 
finally pardoned, and is now in possession of an easy situation, 
with a comfortable salary. The natives take such and simi- 
lar changes of fortune very philosophically. To-day a man 
may be a colonel in the army, a recognized position, with 
good pay ; to-morrow a revolution puts the party to which 
he belongs out of power, and he suddenly finds himself a no- 
body, without rank and without money. He, however, does 
not repine. He smokes his cigarettes, he wears smart 
clothes, he struts as proudly as before, and patiently awaits 
his opportunity. It may be ten years before this comes, but 
time is no object to him, and he is almost certain to get to 
the top again. An Ecuadorian is apt to experience many 
such strange buffetings of Fate. In returning to the city 



QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 31 

I passed a large market held in one of the principal squares. 
The people were mostly Indians, covered with gay-colored 
ponchos, who had brought upon their donkeys produce of all 
kinds from the neighboring farms. There was a great quan- 
tity of grain and vegetables, not so large a supply of fruit, 
and but comparatively little meat. The people squatted 
upon the ground, with their supplies grouped about them. 
Everything was sold by bulk, either in simple handfuls or 
in basketfuls. Nothing was weighed. The principal prod- 
ucts were wheat, barley, maize, beans, potatoes, guavas, 
oranges, and apricots. 

The next day I visited first the Capitol, a long, columned 
structure of brick and stucco, situated upon the northern 
side of the grand square. On the ground floor are common 
wine-shops, on the second the post and telegraph offices, and 
on the third the two halls of Congress. The Senate-cham- 
ber is a small, plain room, ornamented by a few portraits, 
with a double row of benches facing each other and extend- 
ing to a simple tribunal covered with red cloth. Two sena- 
tors are elected from each province, making a total of twen- 
ty-five. The representatives sit in a larger and if possible 
even plainer room. The arrangement of benches is the same, 
and the number of their occupants sixty. The Ecuadorian 
Congress is in session for only two months every year. In 
the left wing of the Capitol is the office of the President of 
the Republic. I was so fortunate as to be presented to him, 
to the Yice-President and to the Minister of "War, being first 
kept waiting a few moments in an antechamber, and then 
ushered before these magnates by an aide-de-camp in brilliant 
uniform. The room was long and narrow, with crystal 
chandeliers, heavy draperies at the windows, an ordinary 
carpet on the floor, mirrors, book-cases, and tables in the cor- 
ners, maps and pictures upon the walls, and a large oil-paint- 
ing of the Yirgin Mary opposite the seat of the President. 
That gentleman, upon my entrance, rose and cordially shook 
hands with me. His name was J. M. P. Caamano. He was 
a medium-sized man, with mustache and side-whiskers, dressed 



32 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

in black, and with a very pleasant expression and engaging 
manner. He asked me man} 7 questions about my proposed 
journey in South America, made suggestions concerning that 
portion of it relating to Ecuador, offered to assist me in any 
way in his power, and concluded with a special invitation to 
his house. The President of Ecuador is elected for four years, 
and his salary per year is twenty-four thousand dollars of the 
Bank of Quito, or about twelve thousand of American money. 
The terms of office of the presidents of the South American 
republics vary, though four years is the general limit ; in 
Chili it is five years, while in the Argentine Republic and 
Colombia it is six years. The only republic in the world 
that holds a presidential election every other year is Vene- 
zuela. President Caamano is a very rich man, owning large 
sugar and cacao plantations. He is patriotic beyond the Ecua- 
dorian measure, and devotes the greater part of his salary to 
education and other methods of furthering the enlighten- 
ment of his people. Though fully conscious of the value of 
a liberal movement, he is, by force of circumstances, a con- 
servative in his methods. He has, however, but little per- 
sonal power, and all his acts must be ratified by Congress in 
order to become laws. There have been several revolutions 
in Ecuador since my visit, and during one of. these President 
Caamano was obliged to flee from the capital to Guayaquil, 
and one of his aides was shot down at his side. 

There are very many monasteries in Quito, and one of 
them, that of San Francisco, is perhaps the largest in the 
world. With its church it occupies an entire square, and 
has, besides, rich farms in the neighboring country, upon 
which it depends for its revenue. Within the city establish- 
ment were many quadrangular buildings inclosing fine gar- 
dens, with flowers and fountains, where the friars take exer- 
cise and into which they may look from their cells. The ad- 
joining corridors are hung with rows of paintings of all sorts 
of biblical legends and myths of the early Catholic Church. 
The friars of this convent wear a yellowish-white cowl and 
cassock. Walking about were many young boys who were 




President Caamano. 



QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 33 

studying for the priesthood, fourteen years' novitiate being 
necessary to attain that dignity. I climbed the tower to see 
the bells, one of which was very old and very large. It was 
suspended from two immense beams by about a hundred 
doublings of a bull's-hide rope. There were half a dozen 
other bells of varying sizes and tones. These were all beaten 
from without. In Quito all day long the bells are kept jing- 
ling or tolling for some religious ceremony or other, in some 
one of its score of churches, and to this are frequently added 
the braying of bugles and the din of military bands. It is a 
veritable paradise of priests — there are said to be over four 
hundred in the city — but something of a pandemonium for 
the laity. Bishops and priests and friars are always to be 
seen upon the streets. The bishops walk slowly along, be- 
stowing their blessings right and left, or giving their great 
seal-rings or gloved hands to be kissed by the simple-minded 
Indians, who kneel at the curbstone in such numbers as al- 
most to block the travel and traffic of the street. It is very 
largely the contributions of the poor Indians which support 
the ecclesiastical institutions. This contingent is always pres- 
ent in great numbers in the churches and is the most devout 
among the devout. It greatly delights in the external pomp 
and parade of religion, and superstitiously venerates ecclesi- 
astics of all denominations. 

The copying of old religious paintings is a special industry 
of Quito. I visited one of the artists, who is so famous that 
he does not depend for his bread upon saints sold by the 
square foot, but also paints landscapes and portraits in a very 
creditable fashion. All work of this sort is remarkably cheap. 
A capital life-size portrait may be had for twelve dollars, 
American gold ; while huge copies of old theological master- 
pieces may be obtained for one dollar and upward, literally 
being sold by the area. Effigies of the Virgin Mary and the 
saints, carved in wood and covered with lace embroidery, are 
also numbered among Quito manufactures ; but neither dis- 
play much taste in design or cleverness in execution. A lost 
art is that of marquetry, a kind of mosaic, executed in hard 
3 



34 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and curiously grained wood, and other material, inlaid and 
arranged in an infinite variety of patterns. A rich gentleman 
whom I visited had all the furniture of his library of this 
kind of workmanship. The basic structure was a dark wood 
resembling polished mahogany, and the figures and orna- 
mental work were of a lighter colored wood like maple. 
There were designs combining plants and animals, very beau- 
tiful arabesques, and fancy borders of all sorts. This style of 
furniture is of course very valuable. 

Only three European ministers reside in Quito — the Papal 
nuncio and the representatives of France and England. 
America is not even represented by a charge d'affaires, 
though at Guayaquil we have a consul-general, who visits the 
capital when necessary. No American interests need atten- 
tion in Quito, and few American ships visit Guayaquil. 
About fifty foreigners do business in Quito — French, Ital- 
ians, and Germans. A foreigner is exempt from taxation, 
and not only is freely allowed to establish himself in business 
and make all the money he can, but is generally courted by 
native society and treated with great deference. Most of 
the resident foreigners are either wealthy or on the road to 
wealth. The natives are too apathetic to successfully com- 
pete with them in any kind of business, and the Indians are 
still w T orse than the Creoles. A friend of mine long resident 
in Quito told me that once, on returning from a morning ride 
in the country, his horse floundered into a deep mud-hole, 
and, not being able by any means to extricate him, he feel- 
ingly appealed to some Indians who were passing to lend 
their assistance. The natives merely laughed at him, and 
said that they must be off on their way to Quito. He offered 
them fifty cents apiece, but they paid no attention, and 
started off. Seeing this, he became desperate and fell upon 
them with his horse-whip. This had the desired effect, and 
his horse was saved. " You see," he concluded, " the native 
does not understand or appreciate kindness. A request, in 
order to receive attention, must be accompanied by hard 
words and often by a blow." Foreigners generally invest 



QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 35 

their earnings in real estate, the value of which in a country 
of chronic revolutionary tendencies, fluctuates less than that 
of any other form of investment. As there is a Bank of 
Ecuador at Guayaquil, so there is a Bank of Quito at the 
capital, and both are chartered by the state. The bills, which 
are usually of one and live pesos, or native dollars, in value, 
are small and very tastefully engraved by the American Bank- 
Note Company of New York. But strange to relate, the 
paper money of the bank at the sea-coast — the chief port of 
Ecuador, and only five days' travel from Quito — is at a pre- 
mium of twenty-five per cent in the certificates of the bank in 
the interior, while the bills of the latter do not pass current 
in Guayaquil. I think this difference between capital and 
seaport of the same country is quite unparalleled. In such a 
wretched and moribund condition is the currency, that there 
are what they call hard and soft dollars in Quito, the former 
having one hundred cents and the latter but eighty. So poor 
or so dishonorable is the Government, that it is either unable 
or unwilling to pay the comparatively small sum of two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars which it owes the Bank of 
Quito. It may be said to be totally bankrupt. It of course 
promises ; but natives are not misled by these half as much 
as are the sanguine and trusting foreigners. The foreign debt 
of Ecuador is about two million dollars, and this is mostly 
held by English capitalists. A great deal of the silver of 
Quito does not pass current in Guayaquil. Much counter- 
feit money has to be guarded against, and coins of certain 
dates, containing excessive alloy, are refused. Colombian 
money is accepted only at a discount, and Bolivian silver 
not at all. It is hard to prognosticate how far the paper 
money of Quito may depreciate. At the time of my visit 
forty-three dollars of it were gladly exchanged for a United 
States twenty-dollar gold-piece. The occupations of foreign- 
ers in Ecuador are naturally diverse. Several of them are 
engaged to build railways and highways for the Government, 
others own cacao-plantations, but most are employed as retail 
merchants in the capital. The drug business is one of the 



36 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

most lucrative. ~No foreign physicians are discovered in 
Quito, but native ones abound. These send their patients 
with prescriptions to the drug-stores, where their wants are 
attended to, but no boxes or bottles are supplied. Each cus- 
tomer must bring all such articles from home. No accounts 
are kept ; it is a strictly cash business. But, even if you have 
money, you can not always use it. In sending a telegram I 
had to pay in postage- stamps, that being the singular rule of 
the Government offiee. On the telegraph blank a warning 
was printed that no dispatches which might offend morals 
would be received. I was greatly relieved when mine was 
accepted. 



CHAPTEK Y. 

BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 

The residence of the English minister, situated upon the 
outskirts of the city, I found a pleasant retreat. A lofty- 
wall with a peak of tiles incloses beautiful gardens of trees, 
shrubs, flowers, and walks. The adobe house, two stories in 
height, occupies three sides of a quadrangle, upon which the 
gate immediately opens. Here in the court-yard a fountain 
plays, a monkey swings from a long hide rope, beautiful 
peacocks spread their tails in extremest pride, a huge stuffed 
condor and other birds adorn the piazza-posts, antlers gleam 
from the walls, and cheery glimpses are had of office and 
dining-room on one side, and of parlor and bedrooms on the 
other. Like so many other Englishmen, the minister is de- 
voted to outdoor sports, as guns and dogs, whips and spurs, 
and a lawn-tennis court abundantly testified. 

Quito is well supplied with a hospital ; for, notwith- 
standing the fact that its climate is so nearly perfect — like 
the month of May in the Northern United States — yet so 
great are the changes from the hot sun of midday to the 
chills of evening, that pneumonia and other lung and also 
throat troubles are very prevalent. Upon entering a gentle- 
man's house, I was always advised to retain my hat, and it is 
not customary for gentlemen calling in the evening to re- 
move their cloaks. The hospital has about five hundred 
beds. It is under the direction of French Sisters of Charity. 
There are also a lunatic asylum and a retreat for lepers. The 
lunatics are well cared for, having comfortable cells and 
suitable food. The lepers, though of course housed by them- 



38 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

selves, are allowed to marry. They were a piteously hor- 
rible-looking set, who leered and grinned at me behind the 
barred windows. There is an observatory in Quito, well 
supplied with instruments of good quality, but it lacks a 
director, and no astronomical work is at present being done. 
A large theatre is in process of erection. The rich men of 
the capital prefer sending their children to Paris or London 
to obtain education, though Quito owns a college. The 
court-yard of this building is filled with flowers, surrounding 
a central fountain^ and the students may be seen walking up 
and down the corridors repeating their lessons aloud. The 
library consists mostly of old books in Spanish, Latin, and 
French. The museum contains a small collection of stuffed 
animals, insects, minerals, shells, and corals. There is a good 
chemical laboratory. 

In company with a Quito friend and an Indian guide, 
I made a visit of a couple of days to the celebrated peak of 
Pichincha, which has the deepest crater and is the highest 
continuously active volcano in the world. It is not visible 
from the capital, but may be reached by five hours' ride to the 
west. Pichincha, in the Indian language, signifies the "boil- 
ing mountain." Leaving the city in the late afternoon, we 
rode about half the distance to the summit, over several of 
the minor ridges southwest of Quito, and remained over- 
night in a small farm-house. At four the next morning we 
mounted our horses for the remainder of the ascent. The 
trail was exceedingly steep, and slippery from recent rains, 
and both of us had disagreeable and dangerous falls. But, 
as we steadily ascended ridge after ridge, we were rewarded 
by splendid views of the valley and ranges of minor hills 
behind us, and of huge snow-capped peaks at great distances 
on every side. The rich and fertile valley of Quito was 
prettily diversified with fields of wheat, barley, and clover. 
Here and there were small villages, and between them de- 
tached farm-honses, each with its little assemblage of out- 
buildings. "We were soon above the clouds, which began to 
fill some of the valleys with their silvery fleece, which once 



BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 39 

or twice we mistook for a lake glistening in the morning 
sun. We had passed beyond the zone of trees, and, entering 
that of stunted shrubs, saw just before us nothing more of 
life save coarse grass. Even up to the very brim of the 
crater there were numbers of animals — rabbits, humming- 
birds, a few condors, and at least one fox. The cone of the 
volcano several times loomed directly before us, but, as usu- 
ally happens in the translucent atmosphere of great altitudes, 
we seemed constantly nearing without prospect of touching, 
like the notorious asymtote that mathematicians love. But 
finally we succeeded. The last part of the ascent, though 
very steep, may be made by horses and mules to the actual 
edge of the crater. The long, jagged outline of the summit 
is composed of rough, bare rocks, whitish sand, pumice, and 
ashes. For a considerable distance below the top we threaded 
our way between huge bowlders and masses of conglomer- 
ated lava — the field of stones which all the volcanoes of 
Ecuador possess in common. We dismounted a few moments 
before reaching the summit, in order to place our saddle- 
horses in a sheltered nook, but the mule bearing our break- 
fast we led into the crater with us. 

The great distinguishing feature of Ecuador, as of all the 
other countries on the west coast of South America, is the 
gigantic mountain system. Before leaving home I erred, I 
think, in company with many others, in my general idea of 
the arrangement and appearance of the Andes. I imagined, 
as with the Himalayas, that there were long ranges of snow- 
crested mountains, from which occasionally arose the peaks 
celebrated in geography and history. But this is wrong, at 
least in so far as the peaks of Ecuador are concerned, for her 
ranges are rarely topped with snow, and are, comparatively 
speaking, low, while the loftiest summits are almost univers- 
ally isolated. Hence the astonishing yet charming effect 
produced by low ranges of green hills, above and far beyond 
which appear, at almost every angle of the compass, the 
glistening cones or domes or jagged points of world-famous 
peaks. It is said that in some places the Andes are sinking, 



40 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and, if so, a connection may be hypothetically traced be- 
tween the frequent earthquakes and certain of these subsi- 
dences. The city of Quito is known to have sunk twenty- 
six feet in one hundred and twenty-two years ; the peak of 
Pichincha two hundred and eighteen feet in the same time ; 
and the farm of Antisana, one of the highest of human habi- 
tations, one hundred and sixty-five feet in sixty-four years. 
The squeezing of the crust of the earth produced by such 
shrinkages must cause violent dislocations in the surrounding 
regions. Hence the earthquakes that appall the world. 

The air was clear as crystal, and the firmament of a very 
delicate deep blue. In view was a half-circle of great, 
snow-capped mountains, their giant flanks rising from vel- 
vety green pastures and enormous fields of yellow grain. In 
the eastern Cordillera stood first, beginning at the south, the 
terrible volcano of Sangai. Then came tapering Cotopaxi, 
saddle-shaped Antisana, rugged Sincholagua, and square- 
topped Cayambi streaked with snow over its dark rocks, 
nearly twenty thousand feet in height, and standing exactly 
on the equator. In the western Cordillera, nearer at hand, 
we had a momentary glance at Chimborazo, as this leviathan 
disclosed his face. The much smaller but neighboring peak, 
Carahuirazo, called the wife of Chimborazo, came next, and 
then jagged Iliniza; while conical Cotacache approached 
close to Pichincha. Within a radius of fifty miles from 
Quito, and all visible on a clear morning from the summit of 
Pichincha, are a score of Andean monarchs, whose names, 
however, are not as well known as those just mentioned. 

It would be easy to give, in barometrical, linear, and geo- 
metrical measurements, exact details of Pichincha, defining 
its topography ; but the impression of a first view is more 
difficult to be conveyed in writing. Even with the assist- 
ance of a quotation from Dante's " Inferno " (always a stock 
reference in describing volcanoes), the task is not easy. The 
highest crest of the mountain is nearly sixteen thousand feet 
above sea-level, and the crater itself being about twenty- 
five hundred feet deep, its bottom is still four thousand 



BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 41 

feet above Quito. There is, however, no fear of a flow upon 
the capital, should another great eruption occur, for a vast 
rent toward the west opens upon the fertile Ecuadorian prov- 
ince of Esraeraldas, into which the contents of the volcano 
would undoubtedly make their escape. The crater, as it may 
at present be viewed, is about one mile in diameter at top, 
and perhaps fifteen hundred feet at bottom. This great 
gulf is an imposing and awful sight. The precipices of 
gray and reddish trachyte, the gigantic crags with knife- 
like edges, the sulphur banks, the yellow and white sand, the 
black rugged cliffs, and the heaps of scoriae, make a weird 
picture not readily forgotten. Near one corner springs a 
small river which was once strong enough to tear its way 
through the rim of the crater and rush forth, a mad mount- 
ain torrent, toward freedom and the Pacific. The chief signs 
of life on the occasion of my visit were the steam issuing 
from fissures, and a powerful odor of sulphur as the wind 
wafted it toward me from time to time. The descent into 
the abyss is perilous and laborious, as its steep sides — stand- 
ing mostly at an angle of forty -five degrees — are largely com- 
posed of loose rocks and sand, so that the dislodging of a sin- 
gle small stone may produce something more than a minia- 
ture avalanche. After a leisurely breakfast down in the 
crater, away from the wind, we proceeded to inspect special 
parts. About the highest pinnacles snow is always found in 
the clefts of the rocks. This is carried to Quito and utilized 
in the preparation of ice-cream. We left the crater at ten 
o'clock and, after a hard ride, reached Quito at two in the 
afternoon. 

On July 13th I left Quito on my return journey to 
Guayaquil. I took the coach as far as Ambato, where I was 
fortunate enough to be invited to join a party of Ecuado- 
rians who were also going down to the seaport. The native 
method of riding is more amusing than tiresome. They go 
at a gallop for about an hour, when a halt of ten minutes is 
made, in which to drink a small cup of sweetened spirits and 
to smoke cigarettes or cigars. Before we reached Chuqui- 



42 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

poyo it had become quite dark and was raining heavily, but 
our break-neck speed was not a bit slackened. It was a novel 
experience to be riding at a gallop, and not able even to see 
your horse's ears. The next morning we started before day- 
light for Guaranda, a town on the opposite side of Chimbo- 
razo, over a spur of which, fourteen thousand feet in height, 
it was necessary for us to pass. Once we lost our way, but, 
dawn breaking, soon found it again. It was a long and 
dreary ride over barren wastes and grassy slopes, up and 
down, on, on, seemingly without end. The wind on the 
flanks of Chimborazo sometimes blows with the force of a 
hurricane, but we were fortunate in experiencing a mist, 
which prevented the wind, but also obscured the sun. We 
reached the town of Guaranda just before the beginning of a 
tropical rain of the most extraordinary violence I have ever 
seen. The streets suddenly became rivers, and it was im- 
possible for us to continue our journey until morning. 

We soon reached the beautiful and justly famed valley of 
Chimbo, with its fertile fields of varying shades, and now we 
had left behind the great snow-fields of Chimborazo, shining 
serenely in their dazzling whiteness. After reaching the 
western rim of the valley, we began to descend over a bad 
road, which soon became worse. It had apparently at one 
time been paved with huge blocks of stone, but the severe 
winter rains and incessant travel of man and beast had jum- 
bled these into inconceivable confusion. Over them and be- 
tween them and around thern we were compelled slowly to 
find our way. Once or twice the road was so steep and slip- 
pery that we had to dismount and let our mules slide down 
inclines a couple of hundred feet in length. Still, down, 
down we went, on foot or on mule-back, over and around the 
unending spurs, and into and out of the valleys, until darkness 
came on, and after all we had not reached our destination. We 
nevertheless proceeded, our guide leading at what seemed to 
me in the obscurity to be a very dangerous pace. We had had 
most beautiful views all the day, and would doubtless have 
seen the Pacific, but for the clouds which lay before us like a 



BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE YOICANO. 43 

vast ocean of bright white foam. We slept for the night in 
a miserable village inn, and went on again at daylight. "We 
had now once more reached the tropics, had left far behind 
the temperate table-land of central Ecuador. We had ar- 
rived in the land of hammocks — those abodes of mental as 
well as physical inertia. We passed through immense plan- 
tations of coffee, cacao, oranges, bananas, and sugar-cane. 
One of the most striking characteristics of the small Republic 
of Ecuador is the abruptness with which one passes from the 
wheat and barley fields of the interior to the palms and 
cocoanuts of the coast. The landscape quickly changes from 
that of a New England farm to an East Indian jungle. The 
climate of Quito is cool, uniform, and healthy for European 
settlers, but Guayaquil is hot, moist, and insalubrious. We 
stopped frequently, at the farm-houses, for drinks, now of 
chicha, a native beer somewhat like our lager in taste and 
strength ; now of guarapo, a sort of sweet and rather palata- 
ble beer ; again of fresh sugar-cane juice, most refreshing to 
a heated and tired rider. It is said that in summer, during 
the rainy season, the roads are all but impassable ; that then 
there is no travel save by the mail-carriers and those few 
whose business is too urgent to be postponed. I had an ink- 
ling of how difficult this sort of travel must be, for we had 
to make many miles through a tract of morass where the 
rocks and holes and rivers and mud were something terrible 
to contemplate and worse to experience. The mules could 
not always keep their feet, often sank up to their bellies, and 
were unable to progress much faster than a mile an hour. 
We had our skin torn by the bushes, our feet and legs bruised 
by the rocks, and our clothes covered and hair matted with 
the mud. We passed many troops of mules and donkeys 
transporting merchandise of all sorts to the capital. The 
expense of carrying heavy articles in this manner is, of 
course, very great. For a portion of a small boiler one hun- 
dred dollars was the freightage. We reached Bodegas, the 
head of winter navigation on the Guayas River, about five 
one afternoon, and were glad to learn that a small steamer 



44 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

would leave the next day at noon for Guayaquil. In the 
evening two military bands alternately played in the largest 
square, and all the town was there to hear. "With German 
compositions the native musicians grapple in vain, but with 
Spanish songs and dance-music they are more successful. 
We amused ourselves on the way down the river by shoot- 
ing alligators, which greatly abound. We frequently saw 
half a dozen huge fellows lying on the banks and looking at 
a distance like the trunks of old trees. They are difficult to 
kill, but after much practice we succeeded in dispatching a 
few. 



CHAPTER VI. 

COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 

On July 23d I left Guayaquil for Callao, and on the very 
same steamer as that in which I had come down from Pana- 
ma, it having in the mean time made a round trip north and 
south. We had only two or three cabin but many deck 
passengers. These last are generally supplied with food by 
the steamer, but have to arrange their own sleeping accom- 
modations, either in hammocks or upon their baggage. At 
eight in the morning we reached our first station in Peru, the 
little town of Payta, approaching its almost landlocked road- 
stead through vast schools of young porpoises, hundreds of 
thousands of sea-birds, many huge turtles, and a few small 
whales. The sea-birds, a sort of large duck or gull, predomi- 
nating, were so gorged with fish that they could scarcely rise 
from the water in order to avoid the steamer, and their first 
effort before attempting this was to disburden themselves of 
the acquisition. The shore in the vicinity of Payta consists 
of great bluffs of yellow sand. Not a tree or sprig of vege- 
tation of any sort is in sight. So barren, indeed, is the coun- 
try hereabout, that a story is told to the effect that a man 
having painted a tree upon his door was hardly surprised 
that it was devoured by some passing donkeys, it being the 
only green thing in the place. In a little corner of the bay, 
upon a plain at the base of the yellow bluffs, lies the equally 
yellow and utterly dilapidated town. We anchored near a 
United States man-of-war, and some Portuguese and Peruvian 
ships, and proceeded at once to load with coal from a hulk 
belonging to the steamer company, and to dispatch our cargo 



46 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

to the shore in large lighters. Though Payta itself seems 
insignificant and desolate, the country inland is very rich in 
agricultural products, and boasts some towns of manufactur- 
ing importance. The Peruvian port-officers visited us, as the 
Ecuadorians had done in Guayaquil, with ostentatious display 
of uniform and bunting, the national flag having red, white, 
and red vertical stripes, with the arms of Peru in the center. 
Upon landing, one finds merely a poor, tumble-down collec- 
tion of grass-thatched, one-story huts, of adobe and bamboo, 
packed tightly upon narrow, irregular, unpaved streets. In 
one place is a railway-station, whence a train is dispatched 
every day about twenty miles up one of the fertile valleys of 
the interior. It is the intention to continue this railway 
tweuty miles farther, to the town of Piura, which stands in 
the midst of a blooming oasis. This railway was originally 
built for the Government by a Danish contractor, but it is 
now owned by the well-known American house of Grace 
Brothers & Company, brokers and commission-merchants, 
of Lima, Callao, and Valparaiso. There being no water in 
Payta, one of the duties of this little railway is daily to bring 
in a proper supply. We left the yellow town, with its back- 
ground of tawny sand-hills, early in the afternoon, and again 
headed toward the south. During the night we passed a 
small village where, strange to say, the vernacular of some 
Chinese immigrant coolies, who had settled there, was under- 
stood by the native inhabitants. This is an important and 
interesting fact in connection with the theory of Asiatic mi- 
gration across the Pacific. 

Early in the morning we anchored in the roadstead of 
Pimental, itself only a little cluster of huts, but the port for 
a fertile district inland. It is so all along the coast of Peru 
and Bolivia. Such of the land as is seen from the ocean is 
arid and without vegetation ; but from the ports, railways 
or lines of mules pass up into the productive valleys and bring 
down rich freight for the steamers. At Pimental we loaded 
chiefly cotton, though there were also ox-hide bales of tobacco. 
Here our cargo was brought by a curious sort of lighter called 



COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 47 

a balsa. This is simply a raft of great timbers, with a single 
mast supporting a large oblong sail. It is navigated by half 
a dozen men, and will sail very fast with a favorable wind. 
It is steered by four men with long paddles. Upon the mid- 
dle of this primitive craft, raised a couple of feet on trans- 
verse beams, covered with grass, reposes the freight. These 
balsas are literally unsinkable, and frequently make long 
coasting voyages. Going on about ten miles, we reach Eten, 
scarcely more than an iron pier, nearly a mile in length, from 
which a railway runs into the interior. When there is not 
much business, these steamers frequently call at three or four 
ports in a day. We reached Pacasmayo, the next station, 
late in the evening. Morning disclosed a solitary circular 
roadstead, with another iron pier, about a mile in length, 
leading to the sandy shore, and a small mud and bamboo 
village beyond. Near Pacasmayo are some very extensive 
ruins, which it is said even the Incas found in a dilapidated 
condition when they came into the country. There are also 
several of the huge mounds which the Incas themselves, not 
less than the Aztecs in the United States and Mexico, were 
so fond of rearing. A railway runs from Pacasmayo to the 
town of Santa Magdalena, which is in a very fertile region. 
Still farther to the eastward is situated the city of Cajamarca, 
which has twelve thousand inhabitants and is historically note- 
worthy as being the spot where the last of the Incas, the un- 
fortunate Atahualpa, was murdered by the brutal Pizarro. 
In this place are still shown the jail where Atahualpa was 
confined, and the block upon which he was beheaded, the 
room he proposed to fill with gold in exchange for his life, 
the baths, and other reminiscences of the lordly Incas. Pa- 
casmayo is the Pacific port through which that rich district 
of northwestern Brazil, called Amazonas, and the head-waters 
of the Amazon, are generally reached by merchants, traders, 
and transcontinental travelers. The route is by mule over 
the sub-hills to the Huallaga River, whence there is uninter- 
rupted steam navigation to Para, at the mouth of the Ama- 
zon, a distance of over three thousand miles. The next port 



48 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

at which we called was Samanco, whose two-storied custom- 
house was situated at the mouth of a little green valley, 
though all around were bare, brown hillocks and mounds of 
sand, that vividly recalled the Nubian Desert. 

The views of the lava-like coast range, in coming down 
from Pacasmayo, were very fine. Though there are no 
fiords, and though these mountains are very much higher 
than the highest Norwegian mountains, yet the generally 
steep and sterile appearance continually reminded me of the 
coast range of Norway. The many scenes of utter desola- 
tion, chaotic confusion, and peculiar loneliness, are quite 
analogous. The effect of viewing them, range behind range, 
is here, as in Norway, greatly to increase their actual alti- 
tude. But here, with a powerful sun, the profiles of the 
mountains are much more distinct, and the varying lights 
and shadows of their ridges, valleys, and summits render the 
panorama much more picturesque. In Norway all is grim 
and somber, here it is in part bright and vari-colored. In 
places very charming effects are produced by a flat, green 
shore, beyond which are stretches of sandy hillocks, then 
low lines of brown and black hills, deeply furrowed, and 
still farther away lofty violet-colored ranges of the mighty 
Andes, with broad oceans of fleecy clouds below their top- 
most ridges. Over all burns a heaven of the purest blue. 
Many of the peaks are but sparsely snow-capped. Nearer 
the sea are dull-brown lava hills, without even a spear of 
grass showing in any of their numerous depressions from 
base to summit. The mountains are all remarkably precipi- 
tous. Those which stand more immediately upon the coast 
look for all the world as if they had been directly thrown 
up from neighboring volcanic craters. Many huge caverns 
have been worn by the sea into their gray and black bases. 
The different colors of some of the stratified rocks present 
a very marked contrast to these. We called at the micro- 
scopic port of Casma, and next came Supe, situated on a 
circular harbor, like most of the other towns at which we 
had touched. 



COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 49 

Our last stop before reaching Callao was Huacho ; and 
here I varied the monotony of the voyage by again going on 
shore, being carried upon the shoulders of natives through 
the high-rolling surf. The town I found to be of mud and 
bamboo houses, but a single story in height ; streets irregular 
and narrow, but with sidewalks made of sections of hard 
trees, after the style of our " Nicholson " pavement. The 
chief plaza had a fine fountain, surrounded by beautiful 
flowers. On one side was the large cathedral, with a cylin- 
drical roof of bamboo and mud. The shops contained a fair 
variety of goods. There were a number of foreign mer- 
chants — Italians, French, and Germans. I ascended the 
tower of a church for a panoramic view. In the distance 
were many groves of tropical trees, here and there the farm- 
houses of large sugar estates, and beyond them the hills, the 
everlasting hills. This range, it is almost needless to add, 
one sees from Panama to Cape Horn, the coasting steamers 
rarely losing sight of it for many hours at a time. The 
scenic order is always the same : it is first the sandy plain, 
then the eoast range, then the elevated plateau, then the 
loftier line whose eastern slope gradually declines to the vast 
undulating plains and forests of Brazil. 

The following morning at daybreak, six days out from 
Guayaquil, we arrived at Callao, and anchored in a " forest of 
masts." In the roadstead were half a dozen foreign men-of- 
war, among them the noted Chilian cruiser Esmeralda, which 
I afterward visited, and twenty or thirty steamers, among 
them six or eight belonging to the Pacific Steam Navigation 
Company, and laid up to await more prosperous business 
than just then offered. The city of Callao, lying upon a 
level plain, was only partly discernible, yet it had a look 
of business activity very different from anything I had yet 
seen on the west coast, and reminding me at once of home. 
The many smoke-emitting factory-chimneys ; the three-story 
brick houses ; the locomotives and cars of the two railroads 
which run hourly to Lima ; the hundreds of boats, lighters, 
and steam-tugs — all betokened a higher civilization than I had 



50 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTE AMERICA. 

yet witnessed. I was soon taken ashore and landed upon a 
splendid stone mole. Of the two lines of railway leading to 
the capital, one belongs to an English, the other to an 
American company. I selected the English, intending to 
return by the other. The cars are divided into two classes, 
in both of which smoking is universal. Leaving Callao, we 
passed over a great plain, sterile at first, but afterward cov- 
ered with grass and various other vegetable produce. A 
pleasant diversity to the general level was the appearance of 
two or three convents, with their neatly whitewashed build- 
ings and walls, through whose gates were seen beautiful 
gardens of brightly blooming flowers. Arriving at Lima, I 
soon found the " Hotel de France et Angleterre," with its 
comfortable rooms and capital French cuisine. The hotel 
was a very rambling sort of affair, with many court-yards 
and many rooms. The center of the largest court-yard was 
full of flowers, shrubs, and vines, around which, standing in 
the open air, were two rows of dining-tables. There were 
tables in inner rooms, also, upon the ground-floor. The cor- 
ridors were all paved with brick tiles, and filled with tubs 
of beautiful flowers. In the second story were the lodging- 
rooms, with doors and windows opening, as usual, upon the 
court instead of the street. You pay a fixed price per day 
for the rooms, but for meals you may arrange on either the 
European or American plan. As soon as I was settled in my 
rooms, an agent of the police called upon me with printed 
blanks to be filled up as to my age, nationality, religion, busi- 
ness, home, destination, etc. I arrived at Lima in the rainy 
season, though but little rain ever falls in the city itself. 
Being the middle of winter, I found the weather cool enough 
for woolen clothing. The anniversary of Peruvian inde- 
pendence was being celebrated. This was in commemora- 
tion of the overthrow of Spanish authority and Peru's organi- 
zation into a republic. The city was in gala dress, so far as 
bunting goes, and, in addition to the national banner, one saw 
everywhere the flags of other nationalities ; chiefly however, 
those of France, Germany, and Italy. 




General Cdceres 



COASTWISE TO OALLAO. 51 

Horse-races are given at some distance out of the city, 
and to these I was invited by a friend who came down on 
the steamer with me and who is engaged in business in Lima. 
An hourly train conveyed visitors to the track, a half-mile 
stretch. From a seat in the grand stand I saw the houses of 
Callao, the shipping in the roadstead, and the ocean beyond, as 
well as the spires of the churches and many of the dwellings 
of Lima. Foreigners were out in great force. The Lima 
ladies were generally dressed in the very latest French styles, 
with accompaniments of paint and powder. But what shall 
I say of the races ? Nothing in praise, certainly. They were 
all of the running description, and but little attention was 
paid by the jockeys to skill of any kind. A military band 
occasionally favored us with waltzes and other lively music. 
In the midst of the racing a number of richly uniformed per- 
sonages, with a large, mounted staff, rode up to the grand 
stand, cap in hand, while the entire throng rose and the men 
lifted their hats. The President of the Republic, General 
Iglesias, had arrived, together with his Minister of War and 
Padre Tovar. They were given seats in the center of the 
grand stand. Iglesias was a man of medium size, slightly 
built, about sixty years old, with furrowed forehead and face, 
bright eyes, gray mustache and hair. He was dressed in a 
general's uniform, and smiled grimly to those among the 
spectators whom he recognized. General Caceres, who was 
at that time disputing the presidency with Iglesias, was be- 
lieved to be somewhere to the eastward of the capital, in the 
mountains. Six months before, he had been in command of 
Arequipa, the second city of Peru in numbers and in political 
importance. At the period of my visit, the government troops 
were unable to dislodge him. The greater number of the 
citizens of Lima and all the remaining people of Peru were 
interested in the success of Caceres, as they did not approve 
of the policy of Iglesias in making peace with Chili. It was 
said, also, that were it not for Chilian influence and the pres- 
ence of the famous ironclad Esmeralda at Callao, Caceres 
would be able, with such re-enforcements as he would be sure 



52 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

to receive, to march upon Lima and readily capture it. Chili, 
after the terrible thrashing she had recently given Peru, was 
still greatly dreaded. To see the gay fetes of the day, one 
would not have dreamed that revolutions were in progress at 
different points in the country, and that the great mass of the 
Peruvians were in favor of an immediate overthrow of the 
authorities. The subsequent events by which Caeeres vic- 
toriously entered the capital are too well known to require 
recapitulation. General Caeeres, who is now President, is a 
clever tactician and a statesman of more than average ability, 
besides being a true patriot who commands the sympathies 
and confidence of his countrymen. 



CHAPTER TIL 

LIMA. 

On the morning following my arrival, having been awak- 
ened very early by the clanging and banging which in all 
Spanish towns the world over call the people from bed to 
church, I took the hint and started forth to visit the famous 
cathedral, which occupies the southeastern corner of the Grand 
Plaza. In the immediate vicinity are government buildings 
and the shops of petty merchants. The shops are merely 
square boxes, with no means of exit save their front doors, and 
no light except by the same route. They contain admirable 
displays of goods, and seem to embrace every variety of busi- 
ness. Especially noticeable are the shops of the money-chang- 
ers, the jewelers, and restaurants and saloons of all kinds, kept 
generally by Frenchmen or Italians. The plaza is neatly 
paved with cobble-stones. In its center is a small octagonal 
garden having a tall bronze fountain topped by a figure 
very like that of the Bethesda fountain in Central Park, 
New York. There are also some marble statues, of mediocre 
merit, and several marble settees. There are a few trees in 
the plaza, but they, as well as the flowers, suffer greatly from 
lack of a fertile soil and an adequate supply of water. The 
plaza and gardens at night are illuminated by many circles 
and rows of gas-jets. At this time all Lima congregates to 
promenade and listen to a military band, but during the day 
it is the great cathedral which rivets the eye of the traveler. 
Being raised six feet or so upon a marble terrace, with its 
yellow, time-stained walls, its quaint architecture, and grace- 
fully proportioned towers, it produces a very charming effect 



54: AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

from a distance. A nearer view somewhat dispels this illu- 
sion ; for, although much of the oldest part of the facade, 
with its pillars of red marble, its niches filled with statuary, 
and its ornamentations generally, yet remains, most of the 
modern additions are in brick and wood and stucco. The 
upper portions of the towers are wholly of wood and stucco. 
The interior is greatly diminished in grandeur by an inclosed 
choir, though the great height of the ceiling, with its groined 
arches colored in white and gold, produces a good effect. At 
either side are the usual number of chapels, filled with 
wretched wooden carvings, poor paintings, tinsel bric-a-brac, 
and Virgin Marys with huge silver crowns and crinoline of 
heavy, gold-embroidered silk. The high altar is remarkably 
plain, though accommodating some handsome silver candle- 
sticks. In the choir is a very fine, large organ. The stalls 
here are elegantly carved with full-length figures of saints 
and bishops. In the crypt are the embalmed remains of the 
great Francisco Pizarro, transferred from the old cathedral, 
which was built on the same site in 1607 by the valiant con- 
quistador himself. They lie on a moldy shelf beside the body 
of the good viceroy Mendoza. Pizarro's bones are fast crum- 
bling to dust, and the few remaining pieces of skin which still 
cling to them, dry and withered as they are, are rapdily dis- 
appearing under the inroads of eager relic-hunters. 

From the summit of one of a range of hills, called Cerro 
de San Cristobal, a short distance to the north, the best pan- 
oramic view of the city and its surrounding mountains may 
be obtained. It is then seen that Lima lies upon level 
ground, near a small river, the Rimac, which is quite dry 
during most of the year, but so swollen at times, by the melt- 
ing of the snow in the mountains, that its banks have to be 
walled with great stones. It is crossed by three bridges, and 
a small section of the capital lies to the northeast of it. 
Lima is laid out at right angles. The streets are about 
twenty feet in width, and paved with cobble-stones; the 
sidewalks are rarely more than three feet in width. A curi- 
ous and awkward custom is that of giving the streets a new 



LIMA. 55 

name on each block, so that you have to remember the same 
street under a score or so of names. Tram-cars run in the chief 
thoroughfares. Native owners introduced them. A ride in 
them costs the equivalent of two and a half American cents. 
There are also hackney-coaches like some of those in New 
York ; they are remarkably cheap and in universal demand. 
For one passenger, a ride to any part of the city costs but ten 
cents ; or, the coach being hired by the hour, it can be kept 
all day for fifty cents. The city is lighted by gas supplied 
from huge brackets attached to the walls of about every fifth 
house. The houses, generally built of mud and bamboo, are 
but two stories in height, with balconies which are inclosed 
by small panes of glass, and which, in the upper stories, pro- 
ject so regularly over the street as to form for pedestrians 
an almost continuous protection from sun and rain. Some 
of the older of these balconies are made of a hard, dark wood, 
which is intricately and beautifully carved ; and these, to- 
gether with the varying colors with which the houses are 
painted, make the street vistas very picturesque. The roofs 
of the houses are flat, and usually utilized as lounging-places 
on sultry nights. In the suburbs the houses are but one story 
in height, built with enormously thick walls of unburned 
brick. Their uninflammable character makes a fire in Lima 
almost unknown, and its dangerous spread impossible. 
Nevertheless, proper precautions have been taken. There 
are two Peruvian fire brigades, well supplied with steamers, 
old-fashioned pumping-engines, hook-and-ladder accessories, 
and other excellent miscellany, though the necessary horses 
are not stabled upon the brigades' premises, but at some dis- 
tance in other streets. A few of the foreign nations so lib- 
erally represented in Lima also have each an engine-house. 

During my stay in Lima I of course visited most of the 
public buildings. Facing one of the many little plazas of 
the city, which contains a fine statue of General Bolivar, sur- 
rounded by plants and flowers, stand the Houses of Congress, 
the one styled the Hall of Senators, the other that of Depu- 
ties. I paused for a moment to observe the equestrian statue, 



56 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

in which the attitudes of both horse and rider are very 
spirited and natural. The horse careers on his hind-legs, like 
the famous one of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg. The 
forward part of the horse is hollow, and the hind-legs and 
tail are solid, in order to preserve a very difficult equipoise. 
On the marble pedestal are beautiful bas-reliefs, in marble, 
of well-known battles in which Bolivar was the hero ; an 
inscription to him, as the liberator of Peru ; and the date of 
erection of the monument, 1856. The Hall of Senators I 
found to be simply a long, narrow room, with papered walls, 
and a plain wooden desk at one end. The ceiling, built of 
a fine dark wood, and intricately carved, could not be more 
out of place than with such miserable surroundings. The 
entrance and ante-rooms are also of the meanest character. 
A great contrast to the Hall of the Senator's was that of 
the Deputies, on another side of the same plaza. This is 
situated in a large, single-story building, with broad corri- 
dors, and a court full of flowers and statues. The chamber 
is long and narrow, but with a lofty ceiling. It is orna- 
mented in white and gold, a gay carpet is upon the floor, and 
there are two hundred red-leather chairs arranged in three 
rows for the deputies. Galleries are provided for the diplo- 
matic corps, and at one end is a half-concealed gallery for 
women. In the center, at one side, are two highly orna- 
mented chairs of state, surmounted by the arms of Peru. 

The principal market of Lima is a large, single-story 
building, occupying an entire block. There is an exterior 
row of dry-goods and notion shops, kept mostly by Italians, 
who thus hope to catch the custom of some of the great num- 
bers of people who have to visit the market. The wooden 
roof is raised above the walls, thus affording ample light and 
ventilation. The floor is of asphalt. The stalls are arranged 
in long rows, with cross-walks. The general appearance is 
unlike our markets, in that the venders — even the butchers 
— are nearly all women, and each variety of produce is stored 
by itself. Fish are kept in rows of large stone tanks, sup- 
plied w r ith pipes of running water. There seemed to be a 



LIMA. 57 

great profusion of every sort of food, which was sold at very 
cheap rates. The vegetables and fruits were especially in- 
teresting, embracing, as they did, the best-known products 
of two zones. 

The National Library is a fine, large building, in the usual 
quadrangular style, and two stories in height. The librarian, 
Senor Picardo Palma, who has quite a foreign as well as 
local reputation, as a writer on Peruvian traditions, was good 
enough to show me through the institution. In the large 
entrance-hall is the best-known example of modern Peruvian 
art, " The Obsequies of Atahualpa," by Monteros, a canvas 
about thirty by twenty feet. This was formerly preserved 
in the cathedral, and during the late war was taken away to 
Santiago by the Chilians, but was afterward returned, in 
good condition, at the request of Sefior Palma. The library 
is entered through handsome large iron gates, and consists of 
long, communicating rooms — three sides of the quadrangle. 
The ceiling and book-cases are in plain dark wood, and the 
books are screened by wire doors. At present there are only 
about thirty thousand volumes. These are upon all subjects, 
in all languages, and mostly bound in fine leather. The 
Chilians robbed this library of many thousands of volumes 
and rare old manuscripts. One room, however, is still full 
of manuscripts, and another of valuable old portraits of the 
viceroys and former presidents. It is the only collection of 
pictures open to the public in Lima. The library is sup- 
plied with a commodious reading-room, and Senor Palma's 
office is full of excellent and costly paintings. 

Besides the equestrian statue of General Bolivar, already 
mentioned, there is another specially attractive work of art, 
the Column of the 2d of May. It is erected in memory of 
those Peruvians who fell, though victorious against the Span- 
iards, in the battle of Callao Bay in 1866. It will be noticed 
that this monument is named, in the popular French fashion, 
by mentioning only the day of the month on which the event 
commemorated took place. In Peru such a plan will scarce- 
ly create the confusion found in the many holidays of France. 



58 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

On the western boundary of the city, beyond the dwellings, 
in the center of a large plaza near one of the boulevards laid 
out by the great railway magnate, Henry Meiggs, stands this 
graceful monument, a fluted shaft of white marble, on a 
massive granite base, with battle tablets of brown bronze, 
while above are yellow bronze female figures, typical of war 
and peace. Still higher are many ornaments in green bronze, 
and the column is topped by a large gilt figure of Yictory, 
almost exactly like that of the German trophy near the Bran- 
denburg Gate of Berlin. The entire monument is about sev- 
enty-five feet in height. The pure white of the marble and 
the different shades of bronze produce a very pleasing effect. 
The most splendid public building of Lima is undoubted- 
ly that styled the 2d of May Hospital. It occupies an entire 
block, and is certainly one of the largest and best-appointed 
general hospitals I have seen outside of Europe, save possi- 
bly that in Rio Janeiro. The original cost was one million 
dollars. It has seven hundred beds, but at the time of my 
visit there were but three hundred inmates. Though the 
diseases treated are naturally very miscellaneous, those of the 
lungs seem to predominate. The hospital is under the 
charge of about twenty French Sisters of Mercy, with a 
Mother Superior. The visiting physicians are all native Pe- 
ruvians. Entering, through huge bronze gates, beneath an 
imposing arch of brick and white stucco, I walk upon a mar- 
ble pavement to a large court-yard, filled, as usual, with flow- 
ers and plants surrounding a fountain. Directly opposite the 
entrance is a small chapel with a handsome sculptured pedi- 
ment and a gracefully swelling dome, under w T hich, by all 
odds, the most beautiful altar in Lima is to be seen. It is of 
pure white marble, with gold and silver ornamentation, sev- 
eral good statues, and a marble railing. Radiating from the 
great circular garden are twelve huge wards, each named in 
memory of some saint, and containing a double row of sim- 
ple iron bedsteads. The floors are of asphalt, and light and 
air are freely admitted by large windows. At the farther 
end of these wards, and forming a vast quadrangle exterior 



LIMA. 59 

to the hospital proper, are the offices, the quarters of the at- 
tendants, the kitchen, laundry, baths, dispensary, operating 
and dissecting rooms, etc. Everything is of the most per- 
fect description, the best of its class, and even luxurious in 
many details. Thus the baths are all of white marble, and 
so are the laundry-tubs. Everything is scrupulously clean. 
Between the wards are more gardens, and also before the 
outer buildings, which are faced by a wide, paved corridor 
whose total length must be nearly a mile. Pipes bring 
spring- water from the hills, and at high pressure flush the 
deep stone drains. This splendid hospital is situated at such 
a distance from the busy part of the city as to have all the 
benefit of the pure air and quiet of the country. There is a 
most refreshing moral and curative effect in looking from 
the open wards upon the beautiful gardens with their sweet- 
ly singing birds and softly murmuring fountains. One could 
not often find a better organization for the care of the sick. 
Health, it would seem, must be rapidly obtained under such 
pleasant and wholesome conditions. Though the hospital 
is free, special and private rooms are, as elsewhere, provided 
for those able and willing to pay a slight price. I was care- 
fully shown every detail of this vast establishment by one of 
the Sisters, who also presented me to the Mother Superior, a 
lady of great intelligence and most engaging manners. 

There is a railway — the famous Oroya — which runs from 
Lima over the Andes, a distance of about one hundred miles, 
reaching a total altitude above sea-level of nearly fifteen 
thousand feet. Its construction by Henry Meiggs, a number 
of years ago, involved some of the most difficult engineering 
problems ever experienced in any country. I naturally wished 
to inspect this road in its entirety, but, upon presenting a letter 
of introduction to its superintendent, was informed, to my 
surprise and disappointment, that but twenty-six miles of the 
road were in running order, the remainder being under the 
control of the revolutionists, who were at that time in force 
at less than eighty miles' distance from the capital. Though 
the rebels were so near, the Government did not even intend 



60 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

to make an effort to dislodge them. I said to a native one 
day, "If the Government really has only nominal ruling 
power in the city of Lima, and all the remainder of Peru is 
in favor of Caceres, why do not the so-called rebels in the 
north, east, and south combine their forces and march upon 
the capital, which it would seem they might readily capture, 
as it contains only five thousand troops ? " He replied : 
" There is no unanimity among the rebels ; they are quarrel- 
ing among themselves all the time ; they are suspicious of 
each other ; they can not depend upon their own men in case 
of an emergency." And so the country crawled along, with 
anarchy and prostration of trade on every side. Peru, 
though for the time nearly ruined by its disastrous war with 
Chili, still has vast mineral and agricultural wealth ; and its 
guano, though exhausted in some places, abounds in others. 
With a good stable government and a united people, it might 
yet be a prosperous country, but there seems to be too little 
honor among its public men. Instead of being ambitious 
to serve their country patriotically, most seem intent only 
upon robbing her. Instead of endeavoring to keep faith 
with their creditors, they repudiate the just claims of for- 
eigners, whom they now owe the immense sum. of one hun- 
dred and sixty million dollars of American money. The 
party in power strive only to keep there, and to make what 
money they may while there. The party out of power busy 
themselves in fomenting the revolutions of which we con- 
tinually hear, hoping thereby to effect a change of adminis- 
tration, which shall put them in a position to plunder the 
people, and thus rapidly enrich themselves and their friends. 
The details of the late crisis in Peru are too recent for me 
to rehearse here. They are known to all who read our daily 
newspapers. The present political and financial outlook for 
Peru is most grave. 

The bank bills are — as in Ecuador — engraved by the 
American Bank-Note Company, of New York. They sim- 
ply state that the Republic of Peru will pay to the bearer 
so many soles — a sole being there about five cents in Ameri- 



LIMA. 61 

can money. There were also in circulation dollars, and 
twenty and ten cent pieces, but the paper soles abounded in 
astonishing quantities, as was necessary, since, with an armful 
in bulk, you had but little in actual value, for at the time of 
my visit money was at a depreciation of ninety-five per cent. 
The large silver dollars of Peru and Chili are heavy -and in- 
convenient, but a pocketful at least represented something. 
There is a mint in Lima, a well-built, two-story edifice, with 
the customary interior courts, fountains, and flowers. Na- 
tive soldiers stand on guard at the doors, as they do at all 
public institutions in Lima. The mint has facilities for turn- 
ing out one million dollars a month, but was not then run- 
ning to the amount of more than one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars per month, and this only in the coinage of 
silver-dollar pieces. There are no Peruvian gold coins, and 
the smaller denominations of silver money were largely su- 
perseded by the paper money in circulation. Nearly all the 
silver comes from the mines of Cerro Pasco. It arrives at 
the mint in huge bars, and is remarkably pure. The ma- 
chinery of the mint embraces both English and American 
appliances. I was shown a collection of silver and copper 
medals which had been struck there, and I admired the skill 
and taste of the workmanship. 

One day I went down to Callao, and then took boat and 
boarded the Chilian cruiser Esmeralda. I found a finely 
proportioned war-vessel, which, being more intended for 
speed and distance than for heavy and close work, was ar- 
mored only with steel plates three fourths of an inch in 
thickness. She carried six rifled guns, of six-inch aperture, 
with the most scientific accessories, and two large guns, fore 
and aft, for powerful and remote range. These two guns are 
of ten-inch bore, rifled, and carry a cartridge of four hun- 
dred and fifty pounds, firing with a certain degree of accu- 
racy six miles. The officers assured me they could with 
these shell Lima at a distance of seven miles. As far as 
modern equipment goes, this vessel had long been regarded 
as the most perfect war-vessel of its type and tonnage 



62 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

in existence. She has justified the praises bestowed upon 
her, not only by performances on the measured mile, but 
also by sustained speed in long ocean-voyages. In a trip 
from Valparaiso to Callao, she once traveled fifteen hun- 
dred miles in four days and seven hours, thus making an 
average speed of about three hundred and fifty miles per 
day. 

Another day I visited the Alameda de los Descalzos, a 
sort of public promenade on the other side of the Rimac, 
beginning at a plaza and ending at the church and convent of 
the Barefooted Friars. The occasion was one on which the 
latter give away food to the poor, and all Lima was there to 
witness the spectacle. The promenade consists merely of a 
long, wide, gravel walk, faced by rows of white vases filled 
with flowers, and furnished with large marble settees, statu- 
ary, some shrubbery, and poplars. The entrance was quite 
imposing, with arches of brick and stucco. Every South 
American town of any size has its alameda. This custom 
of the friars occurs annually on August 2d, and on this date 
many of the best people in Lima visit this church to worship 
on an occasion believed to be especially favorable for remis- 
sion of sin and admission of salvation. The convent inclos- 
ure was filled with a motley crowd of mendicants and poor 
people, who were mostly women. They carried tin cups and 
basins, and what appeared very like discarded tomato-cans, to 
be filled with food by the friars. In the street before the 
church were the stands of a dozen or so sellers of chicha and 
other native drinks, fruits, candies, etc. Hacks and tram-cars 
were continually bringing new arrivals, all clad in their best 
clothes, and a regular Spanish fete was made out of a simple 
religious ceremony. 

The Panteon, or general cemetery of Lima, is situated a 
short distance beyond the eastern limits of the city. It is 
not large, and has few trees or flowers, but contains many 
beautiful monuments, nearly all of them of marble. At the 
entrance is a chapel, beneath the large dome of which reclines 
upon a high pedestal a white-marble "dead Christ." The 



LIMA. 63 

greater number by far of the dead lie in mural niches, as is 
the custom in Quito. Many thousands of niches are ar- 
ranged in long rows of five tiers each, with narrow paths 
between. A few vaults are seen, and quite a number of 
monuments, but no graves, no burials directly in the earth, as 
with us. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS. 

Lima has two public gardens — one especially devoted to 
botanical collections, and the other to zoology and botany. 
The latter is situated at the extreme southeastern angle of 
the city, upon a level plain. It is not large, but contains a 
splendid assortment of tropical trees, plants, and flowers, with 
fountains, statues, rockeries, and paths extending in every 
direction. The whole is surrounded by a high iron fence, 
with a number of splendid gateways in the style of the Arc 
de Triomphe in Paris. Opposite one of these gates is a fine 
marble statue of " Columbus and the Indian," elevated upon 
a granite pedestal. This was set up in 1853, and dedicated 
to the memory of Columbus, by the Peruvian nation, and is 
greatly superior to the one at Aspinwall. From this point 
you have a superb view of the Andes on the one hand and 
of the ocean on the other. In the center of this beautiful 
and interesting garden stands the Exposition Building, whose 
name indicates its purpose, a large, square, two-story edifice 
of brick and stucco, but very elaborately and gracefully 
decorated. In other parts of the garden, are summer-houses 
for the President and the director of the exposition, a band- 
stand, restaurants, belvederes, etc. The pavilion of the Presi- 
dent is a pretty little octagonal wood and glass fabric. The 
flower-beds are all sunk a foot or so below the intervening 
paths, and have tight brick borders, which admit of their be- 
ing irrigated by a system of canals that permeates the whole 
garden. This is very necessary, for the plain is hot and dry, 
and the soil not very rich. The garden was much injured 




A House Entrance, Lima. 



GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS. 65 

by the Chilian invaders, and the zoological department had 
been reduced to a few cages of uninteresting animals, the 
remainder having been removed to Chili. The Peruvian 
Government was slowly endeavoring to repair the damages, 
and set the place once more in order — a work of considerable 
difficulty, judging from the dense growth of weeds, and the 
neglected appearance of the paths. On Sundays and holi- 
days the best of Lima's citizens congregate here. On these 
occasions the appearance of the people in gala attire, the 
music of a fine military band, and the splendid flowers from 
every clime, blend in a sensuous panorama that pleases both 
ear and eye. At this vantage-point the fascinating Lima 
belles promenade on a/efe-day in all their beauty and gayety. 
The botanical garden par excellence is in the same quarter, 
near the boulevard made by Henry Meiggs, by razing the 
old fortifications which once nearly circumvallated the city. 
The garden fills an entire large square. It contains a really 
splendid collection of the tropical and semi-tropical flora, but 
is in a very bad condition, overgrown with weeds, with but 
few specimens of plants labeled, with sloughy paths, moss-cov- 
ered greenhouses, and a general air of neglect. A lofty iron 
fence forms one side, but brown mud walls the others. 

The dwelling-houses of the wealthy and cultured upper 
classes of Lima are built upon the same general plan which 
one finds in all Central and South American countries. The 
distinguishing features are the flat roof; the inner court, 
from which the rooms are generally lighted and entered; 
and the architectural limitation to one or two stories. The 
balconies always face the street. If the windows open on 
the street, they are usually heavily barred, and used more 
for ventilation in extremely hot weather than for the admis- 
sion of light. A broad and lofty gateway in the center of 
the house will conduct you over a marble pavement, with 
porters' rooms on each side, to a small court probably fur- 
nished with huge pots or boxes of flowers, or graceful plants 
with brilliantly colored leaves, directly to what we should 
call the front door. This opens immediately into the sitting- 



66 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

room or family parlor, which is softly illumined from win- 
dows facing the court you have just crossed. As you enter, 
you have a pleasant view across this room to the grand sa- 
loon and another court, also filled with flowers, and beyond 
this to the doors of the dining-room. Still farther on are 
the pantry, kitchen, laundry, and servants' quarters facing 
upon yet another and the third court, and reached from 
the street by a long, private hall quite separate from the 
remainder of the house. On the side opposite the rooms I 
have been describing, and extending the entire length of the 
house, are the smoking-room, library, and the sleeping and 
private rooms of the family. All these communicate, and 
when no guests are present are in the daytime kept open 
from one end of the house to the other. The large number of 
rooms and the great convenience of their general arrange- 
ment, first please the eye and awaken the admiration of the 
stranger. Such a lavish display of space is quite novel to a 
traveler from the cities of the northern part of the American 
Continent. The typical house of which I am speaking has 
but one story, so there is no labor in mounting an indefinite 
number of staircases, as with us, though of course there must 
still be some delay in the movements of the servants. Pict- 
ures, ornaments, and souvenirs of travel are distributed 
throughout the rooms. The public parlors are a little more 
lavishly furnished than with us, though one will never find 
an outrage against what is understood as good taste. Rich 
velvet carpets cover the floors. The chandeliers are of sil- 
ver and crystal, valuable paintings adorn the walls, cabinets 
of curiosities occupy the corners, huge albums load the tables. 
A piano of the best make, and generally from New York, 
is always present, as are guitars and mandolins. The dinner- 
table you will find profusely supplied with silver and cut- 
glass, and weighted with game, vegetables, fruits of unique 
character, and wines of vintages strange to the foreigner, 
who nevertheless will be anxious to cultivate their acquaint- 
ance. House-rent in Lima is very high, and so also is the 
cost of furnishing a house in modern style, since so many 




A Lima Belle. 



GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS. 67 

things have to be imported from distant countries. Serv- 
ants, however, are good and cheap ; they always do the mar- 
keting. Coffee is generally taken on rising, at eight ; break- 
fast is at eleven, and dinner at seven. The business hours of 
the gentlemen are thus largely confined to the afternoon, and 
they return home sufficiently early to get thoroughly rested, 
dress for dinner, and of course take a glass of bitters and 
smoke a cigarette. You will discover that the adults of the 
family — the rising generation — have been educated in either 
New York or Paris, and have traveled extensively in both 
the United States and Europe, if not also in India and China, 
and possibly around the world. They will be very likely to 
speak English and French in addition to their vernacular. 
The ladies you will find dressed richly and tastefully, in Eu- 
ropean fashion, if not in the latest of French styles. They 
will receive you with a quiet and graceful dignity, combined 
with bright conversational powers and a display of great 
amiability. The gentlemen will be sure to try to make you 
feel at home, give you a good cigar, and ask your opinion of 
the bewitching senoritas. In brief, the hospitality one meets 
in Lima is of a very bountiful and agreeable character, and 
life in the Peruvian capital is most delightful. 

While one sees in the streets and other public places of 
Lima more hags and homely women, both young and old, 
than in most other cities of the world, yet there are very 
frequently to be met young girls of the most delicate, re- 
fined, and ravishing beauty. As with the Quito belles, so 
with those of Lima, their chief beauty is to be found in 
their eyes, which are truly wondrous. A whole chapter 
might be devoted to them. They are uniformly of a coal- 
like blackness, lambent though soft. They do not flash, but 
burn with steadfastness, as though their flame would never, 
never die. It is an adjunct of beauty quite unknown to 
other nations, and but slightly approached even in southern 
Spain. Like the aristocratic ladies of Quito, those of Lima 
have small and beautiful hands and feet. Their carriage is 
perfect grace, their manner the acme of courtesy and good 



68 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

nature. They are, however, born coquettes, quite conscious 
of their charms, and not unwilling to exact from men the 
meed of admiration. They are eminently capable of making 
a crusty old bachelor see the error of his ways, from which- 
ever hemisphere he may happen to hail. They unflinchingly 
return your gaze of curiosity or admiration. They will even 
acknowledge the bow of a susceptible foreigner, but in order 
to know them one must not only be fortified with introduc- 
tions of the most irreproachable character, but must also sub- 
mit to the supervision and constant presence of mother, aunt, 
married sister, or friend. No such thing is known as a visit 
to a Lima young lady without the perpetual attendance of 
one of these, or a duenna — that is, a governess ; and though 
some of these attendants are not unsusceptible to flattery, 
they never relax their Cerberus-like guard. A bad custom, to 
which I must allude, is that of heavily painting and powder- 
ing the face — a universal and by no means improving fashion. 
The dress usually is somber black, the mantilla being worn 
only on the head, with a narrow fringe of lace which is 
drawn down over the forehead to the eyes. If the wearer 
is not pretty, this lace is apt to be so arranged as to quite 
conceal the features, thus kindly giving one's imagination 
the benefit of a generous doubt. The young ladies have a 
pretty and noticeable custom of greeting their female friends 
in the street and elsewhere, by putting their arms around 
each other, and imprinting a kiss upon each cheek. But I 
can not set forth all their loveliness and attractiveness in 
words ; their anatomy, yes ; their psychology, no. So much, 
then, for the exterior appearance of a Lima belle. In their 
homes they are not generally good housekeepers, but given 
to gossip and novel-reading. They smoke cigarettes, but do 
not usually drink wine. They have natural talents of a high 
order, and are intelligent if not always deeply educated. 
They play and sing, embroider, and draw well. They go to 
mass every morning. In one of the stores I purchased a fair 
series of Lima views, inclosed in a good imitation of a silver 
dollar. This, at one end, with characteristic Peruvian gal- 



GLIMPSES OF TEE PERUVIANS. 69 

lantry, is dedicated to the " Sefioritas Limenas." At the 
other end it modestly affirms that " Lima is the queen of the 
Pacific, noted for its climate and the beauty of its women." 
I feel in duty bound to subscribe to the last statement, but 
as regards the climate I must withhold such a ready indorse- 
ment. I saw the sun but once in ten days, and then only for 
a few hours. The days were damp and raw, the nights 
misty and drizzly, without any actual rainfall, but with a dew 
of such density and quantity that the streets for half the 
day were very muddy and slippery. And just such weather 
as this, I was informed by an old resident, you will find here 
for five months of the year, while the remainder will be very 
hot and dry. Still, the climate, though a most depressing 
one — at least in winter — is said to be fairly healthy. 

One day I witnessed one of the religious processions so 
often to be seen in these zealous Roman Catholic countries. 
First came priests in white cassocks, with candles and other 
ecclesiastic adjuncts. Their stupid and often sensual coun- 
tenances topped by the tonsured hair, made an almost un- 
canny sight. Then came large effigies of saints, reared upon 
gold and white pedestals, surrounded by flowers and crimson 
drapery, and borne upon the shoulders of men concealed be- 
neath them. The figures were gaudily painted in almost 
every imaginable color, and were horrid caricatures of un- 
holy humanity. Next followed other priests, in robes stiff 
with gold embroidery. A military band and a detachment of 
troops closed this procession ; but I soon saw another of like 
character, following a similar galaxy of wooden saints. The 
two processions met opposite the government-house, and the 
saints of the one were made to salaam to those of the other. 
Then the two processions united and marched off in the 
direction whence one of them had come. The explanation 
is, that it was simply a church fete-da,y (or days, for it lasted 
during two of them), and that one of the saints was merely 
observing the social amenities by paying a visit to a brother 
saint. The former was escorted to the other's church, and 
placed near the altar in a prominent position, where he re- 



70 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

mained until the following day, when, with a similar public 
display, he returned home to his own church. Previous to 
his return the church of Santo Domingo was brilliantly illu- 
minated in his honor with a thousand candles, and an orches- 
tra gave very good music, relieved at times by the military 
band and the singing of a choir of monks and hired pro- 
fessionals. This church was packed with people all day 
long, and presented a most extraordinary sight to one stand- 
ing at the doors, the congregation being clad entirely in 
black, and resembling participants in a very lachrymose fu- 
neral. In fact, it was rather a jubilation than a requiem. The 
senoritas were undoubtedly enjoying themselves, and in a 
city with few public amusements a church fete is a godsend. 
The music was predominantly of the waltz variety. The 
adjoining convent and cloisters were thrown open to the 
public, who availed themselves of the unusual opportunity to 
inspect a series of paintings which entirely surrounds the 
wall of the court and consists chiefly of devils, with the con- 
ventional spike-horns and caudal appendage, and holy men 
with uplifted eyes and glossy pates, many being supplied with 
the trade-mark as originally discovered by Mark Twain. All 
the legends and mythology of the Church are here pictured, 
and accompanied with pious texts, objurgations, and exhor- 
tations. During the day the bells were kept clanging and 
banging, to the disgust of all foreigners in the neighborhood, 
and at night the tower of the church was illuminated. One 
other similar ceremony I did not witness, but read of it in the 
Lima newspapers. It occurred at Chorillos, the neighboring 
fashionable sea-bathing resort. It was to the effect that, on 
the occasion of the feast of St. Peter, his image, accompanied 
by a silent and respectful crowd, was embarked and fur- 
nished with a fishing-line. After sailing twice around the 
bay, he caught a large fish, and then returned to his pedestal 
in Chorillos church. And all this not in the dark ages, but 
in that styled, in the histories of civilization, the era of en- 
lightenment ! How true it is that theologies are largely mat- 
ters of imagination, and religions of education ! 



GLIMPSES OF TEE PERUVIANS. ?1 

From a contemplation of these religio-dramatic shows to 
a consideration of other diversions of the Peruvians is a 
natural and an easy transition. There were formerly three 
theatres in Lima. The best of these, a fine, large structure, 
giving entertainments of a high class, both operatic and dra- 
matic, was burned a short time before my visit. A. smaller 
and less important one had been sold, and was being torn 
down to make room for other business. The third, and only 
remaining one, had been made out of an old circus-building. 
It is very plain, but has a large parquette, a tier of boxes, 
and a gallery. It will seat two thousand people, and is gen- 
erally devoted to the presentation of the light comic operas 
which all the Latin race love so well. In the northern part 
of the city, and reached by a fine bridge of stone and iron 
across the little Kimac, stands the Bull-Ring, a very old but 
ever-popular institution. The building is two stories in 
height, is made of mud and bamboo, and will contain ten 
thousand people. There are two clubs in Lima. One, called 
the Phoenix, is patronized almost exclusively by foreigners. 
The other, the Union, is sustained by Peruvians. The Union 
would be no discredit to London or New York, with its 
marble entrance, double staircase, its reading, billiard, and 
card rooms, and large and elegant dining-room, with bronze 
chandeliers and carved sideboards. In the front of the build- 
ing, facing upon the Grand Plaza, is a very large ball-room, 
decorated in white and gold, with frescoed walls and crystal 
chandeliers. A ball is given once a month during the win- 
ter. At the request of any of the members, foreigners and 
visitors are, as with us, given the privileges of these clubs 
for the period of one month. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 

On August 8th I left Lima aud Callao for Mollendo, a 
seaport about five hundred miles to the southward, my in- 
tention being to travel thence, if possible — for there were 
bands of revolutionists in the neighborhood — by rail to Are- 
quipa, the second city of Peru, and the town of Puno on 
Lake Titicaca, and then over the lake and by coach to La 
Paz, the capital of Bolivia. My steamer was the Pizarro, 
a fine, large vessel of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. 
There was accommodation for at least two hundred first class 
passengers, though we carried not more than thirty. We 
called first at the town of Pisco, connected by rail with the 
town of lea in the interior. Ten or twelve miles to our right 
lay the three Chincha Islands, with their gray bluffs shining 
in the bright morning sun. Guano has played a very im- 
portant part in the more modern history of Peru, and enor- 
mous new deposits have lately been discovered, equal in 
quality to that of these famous islands. At Pisco we took 
on board vegetables, fruit, straw baskets, and of course a lot 
of the long earthenware cylinders full of Pisco wine, a spe- 
cialty of the place. As in the northern part of the Peruvian 
coast, so several of the southern ports were closed by order 
of the Lima Government. Thus we made but two stops be- 
tween Callao and Mollendo, Pisco being one and Tambo de 
Mora, an insignificant town, the other. 

We arrived at Mollendo about midday, and our steamer 
was immediately ordered by a Peruvian man-of-war in the 
roadstead not to anchor. So I thought that my plan of jour- 



RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. ?3 

neying by rail to Lake Titicaca was nipped in the bud. But 
it seemed that this order was only for the display of a little 
authority, for when the captain of the port came on board 
he told me that I could not only go to Arequipa but also 
across the continent if I liked. The town of Mollendo shows 
from the sea as only a small collection of mud and bamboo 
huts, perched without any regularity of streets upon a rocky 
bluff. Beyond are the customary sand-hills of the Peruvian 
coast, without a spear of vegetation of any kind in sight. A 
tremendous swell rolls into the harbor, and the landing of 
freight and passengers is always difficult, steam-cranes being 
employed in raising and lowering both, the passengers fast- 
ened in chairs. My first visit is to the chief of police; 
and to avoid suspicion I find it best to be rated as a mer- 
chant. For my passport I have to pay a silver dollar. Mol- 
lendo exists only as the terminus of the railway to Puno and 
Lake Titicaca. A passenger train is run to Arequipa every 
other day of the week, returning on the intervening days. 
At night, sitting upon the broad piazza of the hotel, the roar 
of the surf, the white flashing of the spray upon the rocks, 
the darkness of the town and distant ocean, have a romantic 
effect upon the traveler, tired out with the rolling steamer, 
and desiring only to be left alone with his impressions of 
past scenes and his reflections and hopes regarding those to 
come. 

I left Mollendo for Arequipa, at half-past seven in the 
morning. Our train consisted of a very powerful, large 
locomotive made in Paterson, New Jersey, two baggage- 
cars, and two passenger-cars for first and second class travel- 
ers. These cars were made in Troy, New York. The en- 
gines burn coal, though when the Chilians were in possession 
of this district the very hard olive-wood of the country had 
to be substituted. The first-class passengers have to pay eight 
silver dollars and a government tax of forty cents on their 
tickets. The baggage must also be paid for at the rate of 
ten cents for each piece, for which paper receipts are given. 
The engineers are foreigners, generally North Americans, 



74 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

while the conductors, brakemen, and firemen are natives. 
The road is of the regulation broad gauge. The heaviest 
grade is four per cent — that is, four feet rise in one hundred 
feet long, or about two hundred and twelve feet per mile. 
For the first ten miles it runs close by the sea. It then turns 
abruptly toward the northeast, and passes over a sandy plain 
to the station of Tambo, ten miles farther, and at an altitude 
of one thousand feet above the sea. At Tambo we take on 
board a large number of passengers, and then move on, stop- 
ping at two unimportant places, consisting of little more than 
station-houses, until we halt for breakfast at Cachendo, three 
thousand two hundred and fifty feet high, and thirty-five 
miles from Mollendo. At a hotel near the station we get a 
very palatable breakfast, with good wine, for one dollar and 
fifty cents. Going on from Cachendo, we pass over an enor- 
mous sandy plain, in some parts reminding me of the alkali 
plains of the great American Desert, in others of the Sahara 
south from Tripoli, with its smooth sand, its scattered stones, 
and its hillocks. ]STear the coast there are at least coarse grass 
and low scrub, but from here until we reach the Rio Chili 
there is not a particle of vegetation of any kind, not even a 
scraggy cactus. In ascending the mountains we have to 
make what in a direct line would not be more than half the 
distance. In one place the road winds almost entirely around 
a small mountain, with a very steep grade the entire distance. 
So steep are the hills that frequently you can look below, a 
distance of a thousand feet, upon a section of track you have 
passed over, and upon which it appears as if a stone might 
easily be thrown. Sometimes we would run along one side 
of a valley, and then, making an almost complete circle, crawl 
along the opposite side, always ascending the while ; some- 
times we would pass in zigzag fashion up the flank of 
a mountain, with five stretches of the road in view at the 
same moment ; sometimes we would run at sharp angles, and 
again in the most sinuous maimer imaginable. Upon the 
steep grades we made but eight miles an hour, but on others 
twelve to fifteen. Away to our right was a range of green- 



RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 75 

ish-white hills, whose color one would mistake at a distance 
for the presence of snow, but which was merely a deposit of 
pumice and salt. Before us towered the majestic snow- 
capped extinct volcano of the Misti, directly at whose foot 
lies the city of Arequipa. A little to the left was a huge 
cluster of sharp-pinnacled snow-mountains, among them 
Charchani, nineteen thousand eight hundred feet high ; and 
still farther away, toward the left, the huge, dome-shaped 
Coropuna, three thousand feet higher. Coropima much 
resembles Chimborazo in its general outline, and is quite as 
widely and deeply covered with the purest white snow. 
Charchani, though much darker in color, and with less snow 
atop, has almost exactly the contour of Cotopaxi. Scattered 
over the plain were huge dunes of fine white sand accurately 
and smoothly arranged in crescent shapes, with acute crests, 
their openings generally to the northeast, whence the prevail- 
ing winds blow, though the mounds themselves are produced 
rather by the whirling eddies hereabouts prevalent. I saw 
some of these mounds as much as fifty feet long and twenty 
in height. It is the want of vegetation and their lightness 
(caused by their being drier than the sand of the coast) which 
enables these sand-banks to be driven by violent winds rap- 
idly over the plain. The smaller ones are soon overtaken by 
the larger, which are shivered in crushing the others. The 
heat in passing this plain was very oppressive, and the glare 
from the reflected sun greater than that experienced in any 
Persian or Nubian desert. The motion of the train raised 
such a fine, penetrating dust that, notwithstanding the tem- 
perature, we were obliged to close all the car-windows. To 
convey an accurate impression of this district in intelligible 
words seems almost impossible. Whether I consider the vast 
scale and frightful sterility of the scenery, or the ingenious 
manner in which puny man has literally bearded savage 
Nature in her awful fastnesses, I am struck dumb with wonder 
and curiosity. Even the stolid and ignorant natives seem 
interested, and crane their necks from the windows over a 
fearful precipice of gray rock, at whose base roars a deep tor- 



76 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

rent. The excavations from here on are tremendous, and 
the engineering is marvelous. The grade, besides, is very 
steep. The locomotive puffs and wheezes, and seems almost 
too tired to proceed. At Tingo we pass the torrent we had 
been so long following, and span it upon an iron girder 
bridge, fifty feet in height, the only bridge upon this division 
of the road. We now enter the great plain upon which 
stands the city of Arequipa. It looks very green and fertile, 
and is in most places carefully cultivated and irrigated by 
little canals. There are no trees save eucalypti, and but few 
straggling houses. At half -past four, after a journey of nine 
hours, we reached the southern outskirts of Arequipa, and 
drew up in a fine iron station, one hundred and seven miles 
from Mollendo, and seven thousand five hundred and fifty 
feet above it. 

Near the station are the former headquarters of Mr. J. M. 
Thorndike, a resident now of Lima, but who was once the 
lessee, contractor, and manager of the three roads of south- 
ern Peru. I should explain that these roads embrace that 
from Mollendo to Arequipa, one hundred and seven miles ; 
that from Arequipa to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, 
two hundred and eighteen miles ; and that northward toward 
Cuzco, to Santa Rosa, eighty-two miles. Mr. Thorn dike's 
late residence is a splendid large, square house, situated in a 
beautiful garden of flowers, and with an imposing entrance 
of cut-stone posts and iron railings. The dwelling itself is 
of dressed stone and wood, with a peaked iron roof and great 
oval-topped windows. It is of two stories, with lofty ceil- 
ings, and the upper story has a broad, concrete-paved piazza, 
not extending beyond the walls of the lower story, but open 
upon every side, this novel arrangement affording air, light, 
and a capital view of the whole plain and distant mountains 
in every direction. On this floor are four large and elegant- 
ly furnished bedrooms. Below is a splendid parlor as large 
as a ball-room, and still bearing traces of Chilian unbidden 
guests, in the shape of bullet-holes in the walls and blood- 
stains upon the carpet, two Peruvians having been shot in 



RAILROADING ABOVE TEE CLOUDS. 77 

tliis very room. Then there is a billiard room, with a rich 
table of inlaid woods, a library with a choice collection of 
books, a reception-room, office, dining-room, other bedrooms, 
and an elegantly appointed bath-room, the whole being ar- 
ranged in the commodious and comfortable manner much 
more peculiar to North than to South America. . I was 
kindly favored, by Mr. Thorndike, with a letter of introduc- 
tion to his able and courteous superintendent, Mr. V. H. 
MacCord, who, upon my arrival, at once gave me a hearty 
welcome to the charming home just described. 

The grounds of the general railway headquarters embrace 
about ten acres. Here are a round-house for twenty locomo- 
tives ; a foundry ; blacksmith's, carpenter's, paint, machine, and 
car shops ; dwellings for the employes ; and the station build- 
ing. The shops are capable of making cars, and even loco- 
motives, and, though the company may know thus exactly 
the character of all the work done, yet they find it on the 
whole less expensive to import the locomotives from New 
Jersey and the cars from New York. The regular passen- 
ger train from Arequipa to Puno runs but once a week, and 
takes two days to make this distance ; but, through the court- 
esy of the superintendent, I was forwarded in one day by his 
private engine, the accompanying car holding eight persons. 
The railway-station is about a mile from the center of the 
city, with which it is connected by tram-car at irregular inter- 
vals during the day, and not at all after six o'clock in the 
evening. I take a walk through the principal streets, which 
are narrow, and paved with cobble-stones. Along the curb 
of the pavement are open sluices, the only and very disa- 
greeable sewerage of the city. The houses are nearly all of 
but one story, built of a sandstone obtained in neighboring 
quarries and brought to town on the backs of donkeys. This 
stone readily admits of a fine finish and elaborate carving. 
The former may be seen in the construction of any of the 
houses, the latter upon the facades of any of the churches. 
I everywhere saw terrible effects of the great earthquake of 
1868, whole streets in ruins, great cracks in churches and 



78 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

walls. The Arequipa of to-day is mostly built upon the 
ruius of that of 1863. The cathedral, however, has not been 
completely destroyed. It is a fine, large building with grace- 
ful columns of quite a Greek appearance, niches, statues, 
bronze ornaments, and a noble flight of marble steps. In- 
side are a handsome, carved, wooden pulpit and a large organ. 
The flooring is marble. Arequipa has fair hotels, a theatre, 
a newspaper, and a foreigners' club with good appointments. 
I left at six the next morning. My companions in the 
superintendent's private car were a Bolivian millionaire and 
his niece, and the secretary of the Bolivian minister at Lima, 
who were bound, together with myself, for La Paz. There 
were also the legal counselor of the railway, its chief road- 
master, and a physician, all bound for Puno. The party had 
very little baggage, and jnst comfortably filled the car. 
Passing a fine iron bridge, sixteen hundred feet in length 
and sixty-six feet in height, we speed away to the northward, 
and then wind around the Misti to the eastward, in which 
general direction the remainder of the journey continues. 
The road seems immensely full of curves ; but, when one re- 
members that it was contracted for by the mile, perhaps I 
mistake. About thirty miles from Arequipa we pass through 
the only tunnel in this division. It is four hundred feet 
long, and ninety-five hundred feet above sea-level. Forty 
miles farther we cross a great bridge made of hollow 
wrought-iron columns and girders, and very similar, in gen- 
eral appearance, to the famous Verrugas bridge on the Oroya 
Itailroad. It is about two hundred feet in height and three 
hundred feet long. The country through which we pass is 
without vegetation or inhabitants. The stations, which are 
some twenty or thirty miles apart, are simply depots for coal 
and water. There are three hotels upon the road, and at the 
second of these we stop for breakfast. After this I take a 
seat in the locomotive and keep it to the end of the journey. 
Here one has a better opportunity to study the engineering 
obstacles that have been surmounted, and to get some infor- 
mation from the engineer, who, in the brief intervals be- 



RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. ?9 

tween working the throttle-valve and steam-brake, is willing 
to talk. It is quite an enervating sensation to continually 
dash around corners at the rate of forty miles an hour, where 
you can scarcely see the length of the locomotive ahead. 
Engines working with a train up the steep inclines generally 
use one hundred and forty pounds of steam. Our average 
was one hundred and twenty pounds, and with this we made, 
over some long stretches of plain near Puno, nearly sixty 
miles an hour. A beautiful snowy range was now ahead, 
one of the peaks sending high aloft a graceful curve of smoke. 
This was the volcano TJbinas. On the plains we passed many 
herds of llamas, alpacas, and occasionally a few of the wild 
vicunas. The latter are always a reddish color, while the oth- 
ers are of various hues, though brown, black, and white seem 
to predominate. They are all ruminating animals, and have 
long, woolly hair. Sheep also we saw, and a few rough-look- 
ing cattle. As we neared the lakes, wild fowl became abun- 
dant. There seemed to be absolutely no inhabitants between 
Arequipa and Puno, save the herdsmen, the station-hands, 
and the occupants of a small village near Titicaca. How 
they get food I do not know, for the plains were all of sand 
and volcanic rocks, covered with pumice and saline incrusta- 
tions. The mirage was constantly giving us large lakes, 
where we knew only calcined soil existed. On the whole, 
neither the scenery nor the engineering feats made this sec- 
tion of the road so interesting as that between Mollendo and 
Arequipa. The part of that division which makes the final 
ascent and passage of the mountains, built entirely under the 
very skillful survey and management of Mr. Thorndike, I 
have never in any land seen surpassed for interest. The 
counselor — our fellow-passenger — has a large grain and cat- 
tle estate near Puno, and there we were courteously invited 
to stop and partake of an off-hand lunch. We were all suf- 
fering more or less from the rarefaction of the air, but a lit- 
tle walk and a glass of wine proved a rapid restorer. The 
entire front of the counselor's farm-house was ornamented 
with a row of stuffed yellow foxes, with a superb pair of 



80 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

condors over the entrance. To us the effect was very funny, 
hut the destruction of grain by the foxes was not nearly so 
funny to our host. As we proceeded, we passed between 
two of the highest lakes in South America — Saracocha, thir- 
teen thousand six hundred feet, and Cachipuscana, thirteen 
thousand five hundred and eighty-five feet, above the sea. 
These are small but very deep lakes. I did not notice any 
native craft upon them. The highest point on the railroad 
— fourteen thousand six hundred and sixty- six feet — is about 
half-way between Arequipa and Puno. 




Silver Head from an Inca Cemetery. 



CHAPTEK X. 

THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 

Puno is a small town lying in a semicircular valley, with 
a very prominent and imposing cathedral, but there is noth- 
ing else to detain the traveler. Puno and Cuzco, the old 
Inca capital, two hundred and seven miles distant, are being 
connected by railway, and eighty-two miles have now been 
built and are in running order. Mr. Thorndike showed me 
in Lima a rare and interesting curiosity taken from one of 
the old Huacas del Inca, or Incarial cemeteries, near Cuzco. 
It was a solid, pure silver statuette — a human head and bust 
— eight inches in height, and weighing eleven pounds. The 
head was decidedly Homeric in aspect, but wore a sort of 
Persian cap, surmounted by a large, radiating sun. The 
molding and carving of the sun in such a position would ap- 
pear to indicate a Persian origin, and thus again support the 
theory of trans-Pacific migration. These facts were called 
to mind by hearing that a limited liability company has re- 
cently been formed at Mollendo, with a capital of fifty 
thousand dollars, curiously called the "Anonymous Company 
for Exploration of the Inca Sepulchres," with the object of 
searching for antiquities and valuables in the old burial- 
gronnds in the district of Cuzco, a concession having been 
granted to the company by the Government for this purpose. 
There is no doubt that many valuable curiosities, and prob- 
ably deposits of gold and silver, exist in these ancient tombs, 
but it remains to be seen whether they will repay the cost 
and trouble of finding. 

At the end of a long pier on which the cars run, lay one 



82 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

of the two little iron steamers, of some seventy-five tons 
burden each, which at present traverse Lake Titicaea. Near 
it, and in striking contrast, were the simple rush canoes of 
the natives. This part of the lake is so shallow that the 
steamers, though drawing only six feet of water, can but 
partially load here, and have to complete their cargoes about 
two miles from shore, at a spot reached by a canal which, 
owing to the shifting sands, it is hard to keep open. A 
steam-launch takes us on board, and on the way we pass a 
small island, on top of which I notice a large stone pillar. 
This is erected over the remains of the well-known natural- 
ist, explorer, and author, James Orton, who died in Puno, of 
consumption, while setting forth to explore Bolivia, after 
having twice crossed the continent from ocean to ocean. 
The captain of my steamer, the Yavari, though a native, 
spoke English. The engineer was an Englishman, who had 
been in these countries nearly thirty years. The steamer 
had four state-rooms, two for the ladies, with four berths in 
each, and two for the gentlemen, with one berth in each. 
The majority of the male passengers were obliged, therefore, 
to sleep on the benches of the saloon. From Puno to Chili- 
laya, in Bolivia, the port of disembarkation for La Paz, the 
distance is one hundred and twenty miles, and the cabin fare 
is sixteen dollars. I found the steamer quite full of people, 
there being a church fair, to which most of them were 
bound, at Copacabana, a town on a peninsula, in the southern 
part of the lake. Our freight was chiefly lumber, though I 
saw two piano-boxes labeled La Paz. 

Lake Titicaea is the highest lake in the world navigated 
by steam-vessels. It is nearly thirteen thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, is seven hundred feet deep, and covers 
an area of four thousand square miles, a little more than half 
the size of Lake Ontario. The water is a very dark green in 
color. We left the anchorage in a blinding snow-storm. 
The lake was remarkably smooth during our passage, but I 
am told it is often rough, though never preventing the regu- 
lar trips of the steamers. The only stop we made was at 




V 




THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 83 

Copacabana, in Bolivia, which republic claims one half of 
Titicaea and its peninsulas and islands. The town itself con- 
sists of mud huts with straw roofs, but at one side is a fine 
large brick church, with ingenious tile ornamentation upon its 
towers. This church is a sort of Bolivian Lourdes, a sacred 
shrine containing an especially Immaculate Lady, to whom, 
at certain seasons of the year, vast throngs of natives make 
pilgrimages. "We pass through a narrow strait which sepa- 
rates the northern from the southern parts of the lake : in 
the former, land is often out of sight ; in the latter, never. 
The nearer hills are always brown as to color, and barren as 
to vegetation. On the east, towers the great snowy range of 
the Andes. This extends from north to south as far as we 
can see, nearly one hundred miles, and is about thirty miles 
distant from the lake. It contains the magnificent peaks of 
Illampu or Sorata, Huani Potosi, Illimani, and others, none 
of which are less than fifteen thousand, while Illampu is 
nearly twenty-five thousand feet in height, and the highest 
mountain in South America. A smaller peak immediately 
to the north is the exact fac-simile of the famous Swiss Mat- 
terhorn. In Ecuador the Andean giants are, as we have 
seen, solitary points, and many miles apart, with compara- 
tively low lands between ; but here there is a range exactly 
like the Himalayas as to elevation and extension. It must 
be especially remembered that, although our view is from 
the dark surface of the smooth water, and that but a low 
range of brown hills intervenes, yet the position from which 
we look is more than two miles above the level of the sea. 
These mountains are very rugged and precipitous, with 
many acute ridges and deep valleys. This majestic Cordillera 
of the Andes is one of the most imposing spectacles that 
I beheld in all South America. And I am not sure that 
Illampu, in its massive, sharp-tipped summit, does not sur- 
pass in grandeur and beauty the world-famous Chimborazo. 
Think, too, of the splendid coloring of the picture it was my 
privilege to enjoy : first, the dark green of the lake, then the 
brown of the hillocks, next the purple of the hills, afterward 



84 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the black and gray of the mountains, and finally the glisten- 
ing white of the peaked, serrated summits, with a few fleecy 
clouds and the purest blue firmament above ! I go no fur- 
ther, or I must rhapsodize. But, though I traversed a score 
of worlds, I can never forget the view of the great snowy 
Andes east of Lake Titicaca. It is embalmed forever in mem- 
ory, along with that other miraculous sight — the highest 
peaks of the Himalayas, the loftiest of the globe, as seen 
from Darjeeling, the English health-station, four hundred 
miles due north from Calcutta, British India. 

In the afternoon we anchored near the port of Chililaya. 
Here are the custom-houses, a few mud huts, and two hotels. 
Above the custom-house was flying an enormous Bolivian 
flag — red, yellow, and green, in three horizontal stripes. The 
best hotel is " Grand " in title only, since it is but a quad- 
rangle of mud walls with tile roof. It contains a wretched 
billiard-table and a small bar, at which French brandy and 
"cocktails" generally are dispensed. The servants of the 
house are pure Indians, and, of course, monumentally stupid. 
The country round about is literally a howling wilderness, 
for the wind blows fiercely, beginning at four in the after- 
noon and lasting until midnight, whirling the sand of the 
plains in clouds of penetrating dust. The coaches from La 
Paz must arrive to meet our steamer on its return voyage, 
and so the hotel was greatly crowded. Seven in the morn- 
ing was the hour set for our departure for the capital, forty- 
two miles distant. 

It required two coaches and a large wagon to carry all 
the passengers and their baggage on to La Paz. The coach 
on top of which I rode was a heavy vehicle of the American 
" Concord " pattern. It was drawn by eight horses, while 
each of the other teams had the same number of mules. The 
road was good, and we changed animals twice. At one of 
the stations we obtained a substantial breakfast. On leaving 
the lake we entered at once upon a vast level plain, in which 
maize appeared to be most cultivated, though the soil was 
very poor, a coarse sort of gravel. There were a number of 



, TEE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 85 

huts scattered about, but no distinct villages, save one only, 
and this quite a town, about half-way between Chililaya and 
La Paz. The huts were made of mud bricks, and surrounded 
by low mud walls. They were not more than six feet in 
height from the ground to the top of the peaked straw 
thatch. There was only one opening, a diminutive, door, 
excepting in some rare cases, where a small hole on one side 
allowed the escape of smoke. About many of the huts, and 
especially those at the stations, were stacks of coarse yellow 
straw, which is fed to mules and donkeys. The plain is a 
vast table-land, covered with gravel, stones, and lava-like 
substances. It produces only coarse grass. JS"ot a tree or 
bush of any description was in sight. Though for a few 
square miles the land had been partially cleared of its stones, 
which were piled up in great heaps at regular intervals, cul- 
tivation was scarcely attempted. "We passed a good many 
flocks of sheep, and many of the red and black spotted cattle, 
such as one sees in the neighborhood of Quito. In the far 
distance, to the southwest, the plain was bounded by a range 
of low brown hills, while to the east we had, during the whole 
day, a mountain view to which all the appropriate adjectives 
in the dictionary could not do full justice. As we rode on, 
the sun beat upon us with intense fervor, and the dust rose 
so thickly from the arid plain that we could not see the lead- 
ing horses. We met only a few horsemen and a few loaded 
donkeys until, in the immediate vicinity of La Paz, many 
roads converged, and numbers of Indians trudged along, driv- 
ing their loaded beasts before them. Of course, I inferred 
the proximity of the capital from the increasing number of 
travelers, but I certainly was not prepared for my first view 
of it. The table-land seemed all at once to come to an end, 
and to fall abruptly away to the depth of some twelve or 
fifteen hundred feet directly in front of us. We suddenly 
halted, and alighting, walked a few steps ahead to the edge 
of the plain, when at once appeared one of the most extraor- 
dinary spectacles I ever remember having encountered. If 
there might possibly be a doubt about the advisability of 



86 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

coming all the way from New York to see the grand mount- 
ains above described, I feel sure that, if to them were added 
this astonishing vision of La Paz, the traveler would indeed 
be more than repaid. 

The plain fell away, as I have said, in a sudden descent, 
and then spread out into a valley, snugly ensconced in one 
corner of which lay the city of La Paz, capital of the Repub- 
lic of Bolivia. To the northwest the valley closed with views 
of Huani Potosi, peeping above its edge. To the east were 
great brown rocky hills, and to the southeast were others 
streaked with a red metallurgic rock of iron and cinnabar, 
still others being of a greenish clay deeply furrowed by the 
floods, which fall during the rainy season. Directly above 
them loomed the grand form of Illimani, to the height of 
24,155 feet. To the west was a splendid zigzag road, which 
we were to descend to the city. The valley in which lies 
La Paz is about three miles in width and ten miles long. 
One might imagine the situation of this capital as upon the 
slope of one of the lofty Andean chain, but never as tightly 
fitted into the bottom of a steep-sided valley twelve thousand 
feet above the sea. As we took our view before descending 
to the bottom of this declivity, we could see before us only 
a few green fields and a few covered with yellow grain, but 
the soil seemed quite as barren as that of the great plain over 
which we had been riding. In the Grand Plaza I could 
plainly see the parade of some soldiers. I looked as long as 
our coachman would allow me at the extraordinary sight — a 
quaint little city hidden away from the rest of the world in the 
bosom of giant and somber mountains. The native passengers 
did not, however, share my enthusiasm, and the postilions 
having shortened the pole-straps and breeching, we began the 
descent at what seemed to me a very break-neck pace. After 
half an hour of zigzagging and winding, we reached the city 
level, and, rattling through its narrow streets, at length drew 
rein in a small square at the office of the coach company. 
The square was crowded with Aymara Indians in holiday 
attire, a fiesta, one of the very many church feasts being in 



THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 87 

progress. A few foreigners, mostly Germans, were awaiting 
the arrival of the coach, as was also the only American then 
in the city, Hon. Eichard Gibbs, minister from the United 
States, to whom I bore letters of introduction. He received 
me with great cordiality, and made me his debtor for my 
after acquaintance with the capital and with the Aymaras. 
The balconies of the neighboring houses were filled with 
smartly dressed, houri-eyed senoritas, who seemed to be as 
heartily enjoying the fiesta as children with us do the circus. 
As the Bolivian Congress was about to assemble, I found the 
principal hotels crowded. So strong is the native passion 
for gambling, that even at the best hotel in the city the 
sport was going on at both ends of the front corridor. It 
consisted in throwing from a distance small pieces of iron, 
something like quoits, into the top of a box, where, hitting 
different objects, they would drop into corresponding holes, 
each marked with figures denoting gain or loss. These 
games were mostly patronized by crowds of young men in 
silk hats and black frock-coats. After some difficulty, I 
succeeded in getting fair accommodation at the " Grand 
Hotel," kept by a Frenchman. 

I had a good dinner of dishes and wine peculiar to the 
country, and then sallied forth to the Grand Plaza, where, 
from eight to nine on two evenings of the week, three mili- 
tary bands in turn discoursed waltz and other lively music 
in a very creditable manner. All the fashionable world was 
out, it being "good form" to promenade around the square 
on the sidewalks running in corridors through the stores, or 
to sit upon the brick-and-stucco settees placed at convenient 
distances against the walls. The costume of the ladies and 
gentlemen was that of Paris, save that usually no. bonnets 
were worn by the ladies, and instead thereof the well-known 
and graceful mantilla received great favor. The conspirator 
style of cloak, seen to perfection in the opera-touffe "La 
Fille de Madame Angot," was also out in force. Of course, 
all the gentlemen smoked. I strolled about the square, 
greatly relishing the scenes and sounds of life and gayety, 



88 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the Southern Cross burning brightly above me, the Great 
Bear almost sunk below the horizon. The Grand Plaza has 
the conventional fountain and garden, and is paved with 
small round stones in ornamental patterns of black and white. 
The fountain is surmounted with a stone Neptune, with his 
trident, and six stone seals spout fresh water on him from 
the corners. On the eastern side of the plaza is the Hall of 
Deputies, a not imposing building, but with a lofty tower 
having a four-faced clock. Next this is an arcade, with 
stores below and residences above. The northern and west- 
ern sides are lined with stores and cafes, while the southern 
side shows the fine, three-storied balconied building of gov- 
ernment offices, and the very handsome facade of what was 
to have been the cathedral, but which, for want of money 
or through abundance of revolution, or both, never reached 
higher than the first story. This is in quite a Grecian order 
of architecture, and the stone cutting and carving are in a 
fine style. It is a great pity that this cathedral could not be 
completed, for if the present design and treatment were car- 
ried out it would be one of the finest buildings in South 
America. On concluding the open-air concert the bands 
formed in company front, and, playing the national anthem, 
marched off in dashing style to their respective barracks, 
accompanied by a score or so of soldiers who had been hold- 
ing paper-lanterns and turning the music-sheets for the per- 
formers. There are at present thirty-five hundred troops in 
La Paz, this constituting the greater part of the Bolivian 
army. The officers in gay uniform, of a decidedly French 
pattern, are seen everywhere in the streets, restaurants, and 
cafes. The troops also are frequently encountered marching 
about the city, apparently being kept in constant exercise 
and thorough discipline. When the bands left, the populace 
did likewise, and ten minutes afterward the plaza was de- 
serted. 



CHAPTER XL 

LA PAZ — THE QUAINT. 

The Spanish words, La Paz, signify "peace," and as 
applied to the Bolivian capital are a ridiculous misnomer; 
for revolutions are quite as frequent in this as in the neigh- 
boring Republic of Peru. La Paz is 12,226 feet above the 
sea-level. Potosi, Bolivia, is a thousand feet higher, and a 
town in Peru, Pasco, nearly two thousand feet higher, and 
the most elevated in South America. The highest inhabited 
place in the world is, I believe, in Thibet, at an altitude of 
15,117 feet — almost that of the summit of Mont Blanc, the 
loftiest mountain in Europe. La Paz has a population of 
seventy-five thousand. An extensive view of the city, the 
valley in which it lies, and the hills and mountains by which 
it is surrounded, may be had from a bluff a short distance to 
the eastward. The morning was bright and cool, and the 
air deliciously fresh and limpid, as I walked through streets 
lined with the dull walls of mud huts to the extremity of 
habitation, whence a stiff climb of fifteen minutes took me 
to the top of the gravelly bluff, a sort of spur jutting out 
into the valley and commanding a clear prospect in every 
direction. This valley I have already described in general 
terms, but now I saw, opening into it on the south, another 
valley of very different appearance, for it was irrigated and 
carefully cultivated. At the time of the founding of La 
Paz it was at first intended to lay it out in this altogether 
superior situation, but some pope or other, being appealed to, 
and knowing nothing concerning the topography of this sec- 
tion of Bolivia, decided upon the present strange site. This 



90 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

is very unfortunate, for there is scarcely an entirely level 
block in it, nor are the streets in general laid out at right 
angles. Very many houses are three stories in height at one 
end, and two, or even one, at the other. The city is inter- 
sected by a small river — though with a big name, llio 
Grande — and by many small brooks, all crossed by stone 
bridges. In the walls protecting the sides of the bridges 
are small openings, through which garbage and refuse are 
thrown. The general sewerage of the city was formerly in 
open drains in the center of the streets, but these have since 
been sunk below the surface. From the height to which I 
had climbed there is a very good view not only of Illimani, 
but also of the rugged sub-hills whose peculiar form and 
rich coloring would be the delight of an artist. In the rainy 
season such torrents fall as to deeply bare and furrow their 
sides, and thus disclose various ores whose tints differ won- 
derfully with the shifting lights and shadows of the changing 
sun. From La Paz runs a good stage-road to Oruro, a city 
about a hundred and fifty miles to the southeast. The other 
cities of the interior, such as Cochabamba, Potosi, and Sucre, 
are connected at present only by mule-trails. Over the 
grand mountain-range lies the rich district of Yungas, plains 
watered by numerous tributaries of the great Madeira River, 
which flows in a northeast direction and empties into the 
Amazon. On the eastern slopes of Illimani all the vegetable 
and fruit productions of the tropics are raised ; they are 
taken thence to the market of La Paz. The Bolivian capi- 
tal covers about two miles of ground in one direction, and a 
mile in the opposite. It is built mostly of mud and tiles, 
and a large proportion of the houses are two stories in height. 
The streets are lighted by kerosene-lamps placed in iron 
brackets projecting from the walls of the houses, as at 
Quito. No sidewalks, properly so called, are found, each 
side of the cobble-stone pavement having only a narrow 
flagging on the same level as the street. There is not a 
chimney in La Paz, for, though in winter the cold is fre- 
quently severe, the people know no method of warming 



LA PAZ— TEE QUAINT. 91 

their houses. Fires necessary for cooking are built against 
a wall quite out-of-doors, except for a flimsy sort of roof. 
Wood is so scarce and expensive in such a treeless region, 
that llama-dung is everywhere used for fuel. This naturally 
gives out an offensive and penetrating odor in burning, and 
the neighborhood of the kitchen is always to be avoided by 
the stranger in search of lodgings. 

The Alameda lies at the extreme southeastern end of the 
city. Here are four parallel rows of trees, plants, and flow- 
ers, all apparently longing for water and a more congenial 
soil. Among the trees I noticed willows and eucalypti, the 
peach and the apple. A great variety of common English 
flowers spread their bloom. There are three lanes for prom- 
enaders and two for equestrians. At intervals along the cen- 
ter are small railed plots with stone columns as bases, for the 
statues of famous natives, though none are at present occu- 
pied, a satire which Bolivians should feel privileged to resent. 
But, if the pedestals were full, a change of statues might pos- 
sibly ensue. In fact, it would be a good plan generally, 
throughout South America, to erect all statues with the heads 
merely screwed on, so that they might be quickly and easily 
changed with changing dictators. In one place is a huge 
monolith of a hard, dark stone not found anywhere in the 
neighborhood of La Paz. It is about three feet square, and 
is fashioned as the head of an old Inca, with a head-dress of 
feathers ornamented with figures of monsters. It reminded 
me at once of the statues I had seen in the interior of Yuca- 
tan. In the center of the middle path is a really splendid 
fountain of transparent yellow alabaster, which was presented 
to the city some years ago by a wealthy citizen. At the 
extreme end of the Alameda is a great summer-house, the 
walls of which are painted with landscapes vividly recalling 
the gardens of Versailles. 

The streets of La Paz, although not crowded, are always 
bustling with people. The Grand Plaza is the general meet- 
ing-ground for the upper classes. Here they promenade up 
and down, or stand talking in groups at the corners. Officers 



92 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

dressed in brilliant uniforms — enormous gilt epaulets and 
sword, a blue coat, and red trousers with a stripe of gold -lace 
two inches in width — frequently pass. One imagines, from 
their very gaudy appearance, that none can be below the 
rank of major-general. As a striking contrast, in the narrow 
streets one often meets troops of laden llamas or donkeys, 
driven by muleteers wearing multi-colored ponchos and 
hempen sandals. But, perhaps, for a general view of all 
classes of the populace, there is no better place to visit than 
the market. That of La Paz occupies an entire square. The 
building is simply a series of roofed galleries, open at the 
sides, and running at right angles to each other. The stalls 
are rented by the month, and all around the market, sitting 
with their goods displayed before them on the street, are 
those venders, who pay merely nominal sums for thus carry- 
ing on their business. Nearly all the people employed in 
the market are women. A few men are engaged in the task 
of cutting up the huge carcasses of various animals. Only 
one species of fish was on sale, the small though excellent 
product of Titicaca. Many ducks are to be had from the 
neighborhood of this lake, but the natives have no method of 
capturing them, and such as one finds in private houses are 
always shot by foreign sportsmen. The display of vegetables 
and fruit was grand, products of both temperate and tropical 
zones lying side by side. I might give a long list of these, 
but as a greater part of them are quite unknown, at least by 
experience, to dwellers in northern latitudes, it would convey 
little meaning ; and to give a detailed description would 
belong rather to a botanical work than such a book as the 
present. Besides the vegetable and fruit exhibit, there were 
all sorts of native-made and native-worn clothes, from 
ponchos and broad-brim hats to sandals and short trousers. 
Hardware and earthenware stalls vied with each other, and 
great tables of such general knickknacks as are called in 
North America " Yankee notions," displayed bewildering 
miscellanies. I observed in one place a great heap of such 
horns, herbs, and roots as are used by the native medicine- 



LA PAZ— THE QUAINT. 93 

men in their cabalistic practice. Some of these shrewd, un- 
scrupulous fellows obtain a great notoriety, and travel from 
end to end of the country. There were also to be seen 
immense piles of dry-goods, nearly all of bright colors, the 
products of native looms, and rolls of a coarse strong sort of 
cloth worn by the poorer classes. In addition, women mer- 
chants dealt in skins of all kinds, the beatiful soft vicuna 
skins always especially attracting my attention. Stalls 
teemed with a variety of beautiful flowers, huge bunches of 
them at merely nominal prices. Women selling flowers may 
also be frequently seen at odd corners of the city. The for- 
eigners contract with them for so many bouquets per week, 
and thus you see parlor-tables always adorned with a luxu- 
rious profusion, prominent among them being that beautiful 
flower called the " Inca's favorite," a sort of crimson bell- 
shaped blossom, similar to our morning-glory, though more 
slender. Sunday is the especially great market-day, and then 
the variety and quantity of produce and goods are about 
doubled. The living at the best hotels in La Paz is good 
and cheap. The cooking inclines to the French style. The 
lodging-rooms are perhaps not all that could be desired, but 
the board is very satisfactory. The equivalent in United 
States money of the Bolivian currency which I had to pay 
was only one dollar and thirty-five cents per day. A good club 
graces the capital, with all customary conveniences such as 
parlors, billiard, card, wine, and dining rooms, where most of 
the foreigners board, though lodging elsewhere. 

While in La Paz I had the pleasure of making the ac- 
quaintance of Senor Manuel Yicente Ballivian, a worthy 
representative of one of the oldest and most distinguished 
families of Bolivia. Two presidents and a field-marshal have 
already been chosen from this family, while the father of my 
friend was the author of a very valuable collection of docu- 
ments, entitled " Bolivian Archives," and a brother is Presi- 
dent of the National Bank. A handsome street in the center 
of the city is styled the " Calle de Ballivian." On visiting 
Senor Ballivian's house, I was very much surprised to find 



94 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTE AMERICA. 

in his fine library a catalogue, printed in Chili, of thirty-five 
hundred titles of books and pamphlets in all languages ex- 
clusively devoted to Bolivia. I had hardly supposed there 
were so many upon all South America. And Bolivia is a 
country of which great parts are still imperfectly known, and 
of much of which accurate surveys have never been made. 

Senor Ballivian kindly accompanied me one evening to 
the theatre, an unimposing structure, both inside and out, 
though comfortable, and perhaps well enough adapted to the 
needs of a city where, singularly enough, the drama is not 
very popular. Location is selected from a large board dia- 
gram, which is hung conspicuously in the ticket-office. You 
observe and mention the number of the seat desired, and a 
programme, rolled in the form of a pin, is removed from this 
number in the diagram and handed to you. I found the 
theatre contained a parquette and three tiers of small boxes. 
The orchestra numbered but eight, the leader adding the oc- 
casional manipulation of a piano to the conventional duty of 
conducting. The auditorium was lighted by kerosene-lamps, 
a row of which, with chimneys a foot and a half high, and 
backed by a standing board to protect from excessive draught, 
served as foot-lights. The draught-preventer would have been 
more acceptable had it not rendered invisible the lower third 
of the performers. The theatre would seat about fifteen 
hundred people. The scenery and costumes were good. 
The music, however, was for the most part very bad, and it 
was the comic opera of " Barba Azul," Offenbach's " Blue- 
beard," that was attempted. Between the second and third 
acts the leader of the orchestra gave, upon the violin, on the 
stage, a melange of airs from " Traviata," and in a very ordi- 
nary fashion, but he was much applauded by the audience. 
"When this virtuoso was about half-way through, two natives 
went upon the stage to present him with some wreaths. 
They stood before him until they finally perceived that he 
neither proposed to stop in order to be decorated, nor would 
have been able to continue had he taken the wreaths in his 
hands. This spectacle " brought down " the house. The 



LA PAZ— TEE QUAINT. 95 

two lower tiers of boxes contained many ladies in gay 
dresses, without hats, bare-armed, but not bare-necked. The 
gentlemen accompanying them were not in evening dress, 
but in long frock-coats and black kid gloves. The upper tier 
of boxes corresponded to our gallery, and was packed with a 
similar element, with their hats on. The scale of prices was : 
Boxes on the first tier, seven dollars and seventy-five cents ; 
those on the second tier, four dollars and a half ; the orches- 
tra stalls, one dollar ; general admission, sixty-five cents ; and 
" paradise," thirty cents. The opera company came origi- 
nally from Chili, and had been in La Paz two years. During 
nearly half the year, from two to four performances a week 
are given. The matinee is as yet an unknown institution. 
I might say, in brief, of the performance which I witnessed, 
that there was but one good artist in the entire company, and 
that was the prima donna, who was very droll, and with her 
grimaces, ogling, and sprightliness, constantly recalled the 
delightful Aimee of many melodious nights in Paris and 
New York. The opera did not conclude until one in the 
morning. Between the acts there was, as with us, some 
visiting in the boxes, but most of the gentlemen retired to 
the wine-room to drink small glasses of strong spirits and 
smoke mild cigarettes. 

La Paz is well supplied with newspapers, there being 
eight sold in the capital, though not one of these is a daily. 
One of them, however, appears five days in the week, or 
every day excepting Sunday and Monday. The others leave 
the press spasmodically — once, twice, or three times a week, 
or even bimonthly. Nor is there any regular hour of the 
day for publication, even with the ones which I have par- 
ticularized. These newspapers are all organs of some party 
or other, as the Conservative, the Liberal, the Church, or the 
Masonic. They are printed with fine, clear type, on good 
paper, and are in every respect like the average French jour- 
nal, containing brief telegrams from all over the world, pomp- 
ous editorials, local gossip, and &feuilleton, or serial novelette, 
served in brief installments. Supplements, of a single narrow 



96 AROUND AXD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

column, are occasionally annexed. The price of these news- 
papers is very high, a single copy sometimes costing twenty 
cents. One generally subscribes for them by the year. There 
is no sale in the streets by boys, nor can you find the papers 
at the book-stores or stationers. You must go or send direct 
to the printing-office. From here they are delivered to regu- 
lar subscribers by carriers ; you never receive them through 
the post-office. 

There is only one chartered bank in Bolivia — the Banco 
Nacional, or National Bank, with branches in the cities of 
Cochabamba and Potosi. The banking-house in La Paz is a 
fine structure, of cut brown-stone below and brick and stucco 
above, situated on a corner near the Grand Plaza. The 
notes of the National Bank, at the time of my visit, were 
worth but sixty -five cents on the dollar, as the country was 
still suffering from the effects of the war with Chili. This 
bank pays four per cent on deposits of over six months' 
time, and two per cent on open accounts. A great part of 
the business or commerce of this country is done through 
foreign houses. The imports, with few exceptions, are by 
Germans. I believe that there are in Bolivia no English or 
American firms engaged in foreign trade, by either export or 
import. American newspapers have had very much to say 
about the South American trade and our small share of it ; 
but, so long as our merchants sit quietly at home and wait for 
the business to go to them, there will be no commerce with 
these countries. It is very different with the Germans, who 
go there either taking much capital or being supplied with it 
by large houses in Europe. Well conversant, generally, with 
the English and Spanish languages, they go to work, locate 
themselves fairly in the country, and in a few years build up 
a laro-e trade. The Bolivians and other South Americans do 
not send to the United States for merchandise, which might 
there be obtained superior to that which is got as cheaply 
elsewhere, for the South Americans are bound by many in- 
terests to send to Europe for their goods, for which, as a 
matter of course, they pay in products of the country. The 



LA PLAZ—THE QUAINT. 97 

principal export of Bolivia is silver, on which the Govern- 
ment collects a revenue of ten cents per ounce. The present 
product of the silver-mines of the country is twenty million 
ounces. The famous mines of Potosi, after being worked for 
two hundred and fifty years, are still fertile. The Huanchaca 
mines, in a southwesterly direction from Potosi, are now the 
most productive, and recent discoveries there show enormous 
riches. 



CHAPTER XII. 

VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 

I drove one morning down the valley, about three miles, 
to a small village which is a sort of summer resort for the 
citizens of La Paz. The road was very steep and rough. 
There were but two or three carriages in the capital, and my 
vehicle seemed to frighten all the animals I passed. One 
scared mule was knocked down and run over. At times the 
road passed between long lines of rose-bushes, strawberry- 
beds, pear-trees in blossom, weeping-willows, and parched- 
looking eucalypti. Again, it was bordered only by plain 
stone walls, topped with living cacti, which the poacher, 
having once grasped, would probably very suddenly relin- 
quish. As I went on, vegetation seemed more profuse. 
Several neat farm-houses, commanding splendid views of the 
sublime Illimani, dotted the valley here and there. The 
formation of the clayey hills reminded me strongly of those 
in Colorado, whose slopes the weather has worn into fantastic 
arches, pillars, and pyramids. The Bolivian mountains are 
so acute, both riclge and pinnacle, that frequently the daring 
climber is stopped, and has to retrace his steps, or extend 
them for miles in circuitous progress. I crossed an old 
Spanish bridge over the almost dry bed of what must be at 
times a fierce torrent. The topography everywhere spoke 
of very violent rains, and here, as in Ecuador, it is next to 
impossible to travel during the rainy season. In the village, 
which I soon reached, there is a little park full of trees and 
flowers. Here also one sees two bronze busts of those mem- 
bers of the Ballivian family who in turn occupied the presi- 



VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 99 

dential chair. Above each statue is a curious little iron roof, 
placed as a protection against the weather. The road extends 
but a short distance beyond this park, being succeeded by 
that national highway of Bolivia, and all the other countries 
of South America, the mule-trail. 

It was on the third day of the Indian carnival that I 
visited a plaza in the northern part of the city, where was an 
inn in which the headquarters of the fiesta were temporarily 
located. The upper corridor of the inn was crowded with 
people looking at the extraordinary antics of others in the 
court-yard below. These were dressed in very gay colors, 
and many of them were in grotesque costumes, with masks 
representing the heads of animals. Some wore enormous 
circular head-dresses of ostrich-feathers, others had their faces 
painted like those of circus clowns. No matter how much 
civilized finery the women had on, their feet were pretty 
sure in every instance to be bare, while those of the men 
were shod with thin leather sandals. There was much music 
of drums, guitars, and bamboo flutes. There was also much 
dancing and guttural singing, a crowd always forming around 
especially able performers. The native music was plaintive 
and wild ; the dances consisted mostly of posturing, varied 
by brief but lively jigs. But all, men and women alike, were 
more under the influence of liquor than of enthusiasm. Fre- 
quently they were so intoxicated that their friends had to 
carry them, and occasionally, in a secluded corner, was a man 
stretched out " dead " drunk. Such cases, however, attracted 
no attention from the others, who conducted themselves in 
the most whimsical manner. Many drunken women spun 
round and round, and waved their hands above their heads, 
their heavy skirts standing out like those of the whirling 
dervishes of Cairo. In the plaza were scores of women 
selling fruits and native drinks. The liquors were contained 
in large pitchers (with rows of huge tumblers before them), 
filled with a native brewed beer, made of pineapple-rinds 
and molasses. Here also were many gambling-tables, where 
counters were placed upon certain pictures or numbers, and 



100 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

dice shaken in huge tin cans told the good or bad luck of 
the players, as well as the amounts lost or won. All of the 
tables were surrounded by crowds of eager gamblers and 
spectators. All was fun and gayety. These Indians never 
fight when in their cups, as do the members of most nation- 
alities. Women could be seen dancing by themselves, others 
walking hand in hand, or affectionately embracing each other, 
but all most blissfully drunk. The musicians and dancers 
would form in procession and march about the square, halt- 
ing frequently for one of their extraordinary dances, and 
then march on again. The throngs of natives moving in 
every direction, with garments of every bright hue, backed 
by the brown or white of the mud houses, made a very pict- 
uresque scene. 

Another day I witnessed one of the closing acts of the 
fiesta. It was near the gate of the Alameda, and the dra- 
matis personce were drunken men, the audience consisting 
of a great circle of approving yet equally as drunken women. 
Some of the men were dressed in fine skins of the vicuna 
and leopard, with caps full of vari-colored feathers ; others 
wore a sort of cloth coat, with ludicrous masks, human and 
animal ; and still others wore white shirts and gaudily orna- 
mented hats. All played upon drums, or bamboo flutes, or 
reed harmonicas. Promiscuous circular dances and the pas 
seul were in lively progress, and occasionally drunken women 
would break in upon the men, and pirouette together, for- 
ward and back, arm over arm, around and around, with an 
occasional fall and recovery, which disconcerted no one. The 
faces of those who did not wear masks looked either stolid or 
silly. You were reminded of a lot of children at play, with- 
out aim or plan. Some pathetic scenes occurred. One young 
woman was fearfully drunk. Her mother on one side, her 
little daughter on the other, tried to keep her on her feet. 
And to the back of the daughter, herself a mere tot scarcely 
three feet in height, was strapped a tiny baby. Their friends 
either looked on and laughed, or else did not think the situa- 
tion of sufficient moment for even a passing notice. It was 



VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 101 

to me, however, a distressing sight. These poor people 
elicited my greatest sympathy and interest, the more so since 
the general sentiment of the La Paz citizen seems to be that 
Indians are not capable of any cultivation, and, even if they 
were, are hardly worth the trouble. There are said to be 
half a million Aymaras in Bolivia and southern Peru. They 
are a pastoral people, almost entirely vegetarian in diet, and 
though generally grave and impassive, are never sullen or 
ill-natured, while, as we have seen, when warmed with beer 
or spirits, on the occasion of the church festivals, they are 
exceedingly animated, not to say hilarious. 

At the hotel in La Paz I was glad to make the acquaint- 
ance of the well-known naturalist, Dr. H. H. Rusby, of New 
York, who was at the time journeying along the Pacific coast 
with the special object of investigating its medical botany. 
He afterward daringly made his way across the continent to 
Para, crossing the Andes by mule, floating on rafts, down the 
Beni and Madeira Rivers, to the mighty Amazon, undergoing 
terrible privations and hardships, but forming great collections 
in both the flora and fauna of Bolivia and Brazil, and making 
some very valuable additions to the American pharmacopoeia. 

I was one week in accomplishing the return journey from 
La Paz to Mollendo, and fortunately arrived just in time to 
take a steamer for Valparaiso, next to San Francisco the lead- 
ing port on the Pacific coast of America. Before going on 
board I was obliged to obtain another passport — price one dol- 
lar — this being the fifth I had had to secure in Peru. My 
steamer was the Maipo, of the South American Steamship 
Company, or the Chilian line, as it is familiarly called here, 
in contradistinction from the English line, or the Pacific 
Steam Navigation Company. The Maipo I found to be 
a splendidly appointed vessel in every particular. The cabins 
were extremely large, and the saloon, with its stained glass, 
inlaid wood-work, and display of cut-glass and silver, lighted 
above by a great octagonal sky-light, was as fine an apartment 
as I have ever seen on any steamer. The captain and officers 
were mostly Europeans. 



102 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Our first stop was at Arica, formerly belonging to Peru, 
but taken from her by Chili in the late war. It was once 
a town of some importance, but is now an uninteresting 
place, of a few thousand inhabitants. The roadstead is 
flanked on the south by a giant bluff, on whose summit ap- 
pear several great cannon. Away to the north, high on the 
beach, may be seen the remains of the ill-fated United States 
steamship Wateree, which was torn (in 1868) from its 
moorings by a great tidal wave and borne a quarter of a mile 
into the interior. About all that is now left of her is some 
machinery. Near the landing-place of Arica a train of cars 
was just starting for the town of Tacna, about forty miles 
distant to the northward, and lying in a very fertile valley. 
In an imposing position, reached by a massive stone terrace, 
stands a church made altogether of iron and brought from 
the United States. There is also the customary grand square, 
with its little central garden struggling for its life, and un- 
able to get the water necessary for that purpose. The next 
port at which we called was Pisagua, a town of wooden shan- 
ties that lies upon such a steep range of hills that it looks as 
if a slight shock of earthquake would send it toppling into 
the sea. Here I found about a dozen ships awaiting freight. 
Upon a conical hillock, near the center of the town, has been 
reared a plain stone shaft in memory of the dead of both 
sides who fell in the late Peru-Chili War. It is a very con- 
spicuous mark, and may be seen for a long distance at sea. 
The same day we arrived at Iquique, one of the most busi- 
ness-like ports on the west coast. It is a town of very ir- 
regular appearance. It lies upon an extensive plain at a level 
with the sea, and contains one-story mud and bamboo houses. 
In the roadstead was a score of ships of all nationalities, load- 
ing saltpeter. One war-vessel was a British corvette. Go- 
ing on shore, I was surprised at the foreign aspect of the 
town — broad macadamized streets, with wide sidewalks, and 
shop-signs in English quite as frequently as in Spanish. Be- 
sides the English element, there seemed to be large contin- 
gents of French and Germans. In the Grand Plaza there is 



VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 103 

a lofty wood and iron clock-tower, through the open sides of 
which appears the marble bust of one of the many Chilian 
heroes. Iquique is a thriving place, being the shipping port 
of great saltpeter-mines in the interior, with which a railway 
connects. The city-is clean and lighted by gas, and, though 
artistically grotesque, it is pleasing by way of contrast to 
other cities to the northward. It has been several times de- 
stroyed by fire and ravaged by earthquakes. This may ac- 
count for the fact that it is made almost entirely of pine 
boards and galvanized iron plates, and appears as if only built 
yesterday and for a brief period at that, inasmuch' as fires or 
earthquakes might be momentarily expected. I can not but 
liken it to San Francisco in the early days of the gold fever 
of which all have read descriptions. Our next stopping-place 
was Tocopilla, where are several large copper-smeltiDg works, 
valuable copper-mines existing in the interior. We then 
went to Cobija, formerly the only seaport of Bolivia, but 
now belonging of course to Chili. Having passed the Tropic 
of Capricorn, we stopped at Autofagasta. Here I found 
extensive silver and copper smelting works and a large niter- 
factory. We took from here, as freight, a great quantity of 
large silver bars. Early the following morning we anchored 
in the fine roadstead of Caldera, a small town with a few 
smelting- works. A railway runs inland, about fifty miles, to 
the town of Copiapo. This railway dates from the year 
1850, and was the first constructed in South America. 
Twenty-four hours from Caldera we reached Coquimbo and 
saw the first signs of vegetation, the first green hills on the 
coast, since leaving Guayaquil. 

After a voyage of a week, including the above frequent 
though brief halts, early one morning Valparaiso was sighted, 
and as the steamer drew in toward the roadstead, or semicir- 
cular harbor, I was strongly reminded of the appearance of 
the " Golden Gate "of San Francisco, save that in California 
the hills are brown and barren, while here they are covered 
with grass and various grains. The bright, living green was 
a very welcome sight after so much desolation and death as 



104 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

all the northward coast presents. The aspect of Valparaiso 
from the sea is very remarkable. One would think a more 
inconvenient site was nowhere to be found. Rome was built, 
so the historians tell us, upon seven hills, but Valparaiso is 
built upon twenty, and so steep are most of them that stair- 
cases are necessary to get from one part to another, and in 
one instance even a vertical railway has to be employed. 
The harbor of Valparaiso is of a horseshoe shape, open to 
the north, but well protected on the southwest. It is unfor- 
tunate that it should be so exposed on the north, for occa- 
sionally northerly gales are so heavy that the vessels have to 
slip their cables and put out to sea. The entire harbor is 
filled with sail and steam craft of every description as we 
enter and anchor in one hundred and fifty feet of water. "We 
had just passed, on the southern headland, two small open 
batteries, and could see another on the northerly point. 
Then to the eastward, and near the level of the water, there 
loomed several more. The appearance of Yalparaiso may 
perhaps be likened to a vast amphitheatre, in which the 
ridges of the hills may be regarded as aisles. Its sloping po- 
sition reminds one of Hong-Kong. Its spurs, terminating 
in bluffs at the water's edge, recall Quebec. Owing to the 
presence of these spurs, the city is of course very irregularly 
built. In one place there are but two streets between a rocky 
bluff and the harbor, while in another there are ten. The 
greater part of the city is built upon a gently sloping plain, 
and the streets are laid out with square or oblong blocks. 
Adjoining the harbor is a very broad highway, upon which 
is situated a splendid row of business houses, built of brick, 
and three or four stories in height. At one extremity of 
this are the custom warehouses, forming an imposing pile. 
The most prominent objects seen from the deck of a steamer 
at anchor in the harbor are these custom warehouses, a ceme- 
tery, the clock-tower of the Municipal Palace, and an enor- 
mous brewery, painted a flaring white, far off upon one of 
the hills. 

As I walked past the elegant bronze statue of Lord Coch 



VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 105 

rane — the Englishman who commanded the fleet of Chili 
from 1818 to 1822 — with the post-office and the fire-engine 
house to the left, and the Municipal Palace before me, 
and turned down a street to the right to the " Gran Hotel 
Central," with its long flight of marble steps, I was struck 
by the very civilized look of the famous Chilian seaport. 
Indeed, it quite resembled a small French or German city. 
The people who were rushing about in the eagerness of busi- 
ness activity did not seem to be Chilians, but Germans, 
French, English, Americans. And when I came to enter 
some of the great foreign mercantile houses, extending from 
street to street, and fitted with perfect modern appointments ; 
and when, at night, I walked through the long streets where 
most of the retail business is done, with brilliantly lighted 
shops filled with a variety of goods from every country — I 
could hardly believe myself in the southern hemisphere. It 
was only the sight of an occasional mantilla, or a peculiar 
cut of the beard, or perhaps a solitary poncho-clad figure 
urging his horse swiftly along, that dispelled my illusion. 
In the dining-room of the hotel the electric light was used, 
as well as in very many of the stores. In the streets is a 
"Belgian" pavement, and the sidewalks are smoothly and 
neatly flagged. The architecture of some of the buildings is 
very fine, and there are several rich and elegant churches. 
The principal streets are threaded by tramways. The trams, 
or cars, are of two stories, as in Paris and some other Euro- 
pean cities. But a Yalparaiso conductor is not paralleled in 
any other city anywhere — for it is a woman. She is provided 
with a board-seat upon the rear platform, and performs, and 
very well, too, all the customary functions of the male con- 
ductor, save that of the caution to "move up, please," for 
here no more passengers are admitted than there are seats 
for. These female conductors wear a uniform blue dress 
with a white apron and a man's felt hat, and carry a leather 
change-bag. The fare is five cents for inside and two cents 
and a half for outside passengers. 

At the time of my visit to Chili a small steamer sailed 



106 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

for the famous island of Juan Fernandez, or Robinson Cru- 
soe's Island, which belongs to that country, and is situated 
in the Pacific Ocean about four hundred miles nearly due 
west from Valparaiso. It has a few Chilian inhabitants, and 
is the seat of a small German colony. The newspapers of 
the city announced, with many flourishes, that a pleasure 
excursion was about to be made to Juan Fernandez, and that 
it would last six days, half of which time would be spent 
upon the island. The fare was placed at sixty dollars for 
first-class and thirty dollars for second-class passengers. The 
various attractions promised were the shooting of seals, fish- 
ing for cod, driving and shooting goats, lobster-fishing, and 
last, and evidently least, visits to all the places of interest on 
the island. These included Robinson Crusoe's lookout, 
three thousand feet above the ocean, with a commemorative 
bronze tablet set in the side of the hill by the officers of the 
Challenger Expedition ; Crusoe's cave ; and the beach where 
he was supposed to have been wrecked, or rather to have 
gone on shore by the memorable raft. The island is eighteen 
miles long and six broad ; it is for the most part rocky and 
barren. I was told that these excursions, a few of which 
occur every year, are quite popular, and that the steamers 
usually have a great crowd of passengers. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. 

One of the oldest railways in South America takes you 
in five hours from the great seaport of Chili to Santiago, its 
capital. The road is owned by the Government, but was 
built by English contractors, as one might know by the odd- 
shaped locomotives and the little four-wheeled carriages. 
Eor more than half its distance the road extends in a north- 
easterly direction, and then turns abruptly and runs almost 
directly south to the city of Santiago. There are only two 
towns of any special size or importance on the entire road — ■ 
Quillota and Santa Felipe. On leaving the station we skirt 
the bay for several miles, until we reach a little town called 
Vino del Mar, where dwell many of the rich merchants of 
the seaport city. Here are graceful little cottages imbedded 
in beautiful gardens of fruits and flowers, a large hotel, and 
pleasant walks and drives. Near by is an enormous sugar- 
factory. Going on, the country for many miles is undulating, 
the hills on both sides being covered with scrub, and the val- 
leys filled with barley and clover fields, orchards, and vine- 
yards. The land is generally owned in immense estates, and 
irrigation has to be employed in nearly all districts along the 
coast. In the interior the climate is more equable, and the 
soil is remarkably fertile and especially well adapted to 
European produce. There is a large wheat crop, notwith- 
standing a generally rude method of cultivation. The Chilian 
farmer plows with a sharp-pointed piece of wood, sometimes 
shod with iron, and knows no harrow but a bundle of brush. 
Heaping is done by hand, and thrashing by the old-fashioned 



108 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

way of driving horses over the grain. At the time of my 
visit the barley and pastures presented the most beautiful 
emerald tints I have ever seen, while the orchards were filled 
with red, pink, white, and greenish-white blossoms, that re- 
sembled flower-gardens on an enormous scale. The engineer- 
ing problems of the road did not appear to be very great, at 
least not as compared with those so frequently encountered 
in Peru. There were no excessively steep grades — though 
the rise from the sea to Santiago is about eighteen hundred 
feet — and but a few short tunnels. Just before we reached 
the greatest ascent we passed an enormous and perfectly level 
plain, which, with the surrounding hills, made a fine scene. 
Then came a region of rough, brown rocks, interesting but 
hardly grand, and afterward another plain, and then, on all 
sides, carefully cultivated fields stretched away to Santiago, 
where we soon drew up in a handsome iron station, a hun- 
dred and fifteen miles from Valparaiso. A long drive through 
uninteresting streets then took me to the best hotel, at the 
opposite end of the city. 

On the eastern side of Santiago there is a singular rocky 
hill which rises abruptly from the level plain to a height of 
eight hundred feet, and from which may be had a remarkably 
interesting view of the city and the great snowy range of the 
Andes. This outlook, called the " Cerro de Santa Lucia," is 
a very popular resort with both citizens and strangers. A 
good carriage-road winds upward nearly to the summit, and 
paths and stone staircases seem to lead up and about it in 
every direction. It is surrounded at the base by a lofty wall, 
with an imposing iron gateway, where a small entrance fee is 
charged. The near appearance of this miniature hill is espe- 
cially striking. Here is a bare, rocky precipice, there a mass 
of evergreen trees and vines ; here is a bed of flowers perched 
in an almost inaccessible nook, there are grottoes, statues, 
belvederes, a swimming-bath, a restaurant, kiosks, a his- 
torical museum, and an astronomical observatory ; while, in 
contrast to all the rest, the actual apex of sharp rock is cov- 
ered by an octagonal cupola of glass. All these improve- 



THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. 109 

ments and embellishments were effected by the late Benjamin 
Vicuna Mackenna, the eminent Chilian author, editor, orator, 
and statesman, who was Governor of Santiago for many 
years, and one of the candidates for the presidency in 1876, 
though he failed of election. The staircases leading to. the 
highest point are necessarily very narrow and steep, and it 
really requires a strong head and a steady foot for the ascent. 
But, having clambered up, one is amply repaid by the mag- 
nificent prospect. Directly at your feet lies the city of San- 
tiago, on an almost perfectly level plain, its houses of pink, 
white, green, and yellow, picturesquely contrasting with each 
other, and the monotony of their tiled roofs artistically broken 
by church spires, towers, and lofty public buildings. Through 
the northern part of the city flows a small stream, called the 
Mapocho, which is crossed by five bridges, one of them 
flanked with little shops like the famous Ponte Yecchio at 
Florence. The city itself is regularly laid out, and covers a 
very large area for its population of a hundred and thirty 
thousand ; but one should remember that, owing to the preva- 
lence of earthquakes, its houses are built mostly no higher 
than two stories. The streets are comparatively broad and 
covered with the " Belgian " pavement. The city is gener- 
ally lighted by gas, though the electric light is also used, 
especially in the best class of stores. Santiago seems, from 
the top of the Cerro de Santa Lucia, to be completely sur- 
rounded by lofty mountains. The range to the north and 
east is thickly cased with snow. 

The Great Square of Santiago, or Plaza Independencia, as 
as it is called, is quite imposing, though its general arrange- 
ment is not unlike those of other large South American cities. 
In the center is a handsome old marble fountain, which is 
encircled by a large garden filled with flowers, statues, mar- 
ble settees, and neat gravel walks. On one side of the square 
are the buildings of the municipality ; on another, a large 
edifice with pleasing architectural features, arranged below 
with shops faced by an arched pathway, and occupied above 
by dwelling-rooms. Another side is monopolized by an 



110 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

enormous three-story building, called the Grand English 
Hotel, and by two great arcades crossing each other at right 
angles, and extending from street to street. These arcades 
are of white stucco, with semicircular roofs of glass and iron. 
They contain many fine shops, those devoted to jewelry and 
hric-d-hrac seeming to predominate. The remaining side of 
the grand plaza is nearly all filled by the cathedral, a huge 
building of brick and stone, with a single rough-brick tower, 
the whole being quite uncouth and unfinished on the outside. 
Inside, however, the edifice is one of the very finest of its 
class, simply yet richly furnished, and therefore lacking in 
the tawdriness that is often the case with cathedral interiors. 
In the Great Square you find the principal hackney-coach 
stand ; the terminus of one of the many tramway lines which 
traverse the city in every direction ; and a music pavilion, 
where occasionally a military band performs in the evening. 
From the center of the plaza a splendid view may be ob- 
tained of the great snow-capped mountains by which San- 
tiago is flanked on the northeast. 

The Chilian Capitol is an imposing structure, two stories 
in height, with rows of great columns and many chaste 
ornaments, the whole exterior being of a brownish-yellow 
stucco. The building contains three great halls : that of 
the senators, that of the deputies, and that in which the 
President takes the oath of office. These halls are very 
plainly finished in white stucco, with a few simple frescoes on 
the ceiling, and are illuminated by great sky-lights and fur- 
nished with plain leather chairs. The Chilian Congress is 
composed of about forty senators and one hundred and ten 
deputies. Directly in front of the Capitol is a small park, 
which was formerly the site of the Jesuits' church, wherein 
so many women were burned on the night of the 8th of De- 
cember, 1868. That terrible calamity is commemorated by 
a graceful marble and bronze monument, with an inscription 
on the pedestal, dated December 8, 1873, informing the 
stranger that it was the offering of the love and inextinguish- 
able grief of the people of Santiago. It will be remembered 



THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. HI 

that the church took fire from some of its altar-candles, on 
the occasion of a crowded evening festival. The congrega- 
tion was, as usual, mostly composed of women, who, in their 
frantic efforts to escape, became blocked against the closed 
doors, which unfortunately were made to open inward. No 
help could come from outside, and, as the monument pathet- 
ically says, " two thousand victims, more or less," miserably 
perished. 

One afternoon I visited the Botanical and Zoological Gar- 
dens and the National Museum, which they surround, and 
which is at present housed in the Exposition Palace. The 
Botanical Gardens are laid out on a grand scale, with a very 
great variety of plants, fine walks, statues, and summer-houses. 
Near a lake stands the rather imposing building of the ex- 
position, two stories in height, with grand entrance and great 
central hall, the whole very much resembling that at Lima. 
It contained a fair general zoological collection, with good 
mounting of specimens and explicit labels in Latin and Span- 
ish. The collection of South American animals is very com- 
plete, and that of Chilian birds especially claimed my atten- 
tion. There is also a good though small botanical display, or, 
more properly speaking, an herbarium — leaves and flowers 
dried and pressed in books, seeds and grain preserved in bot- 
tles, and sawed sections of trees. In the great central hall is 
a very complete exhibit of school accessories — text-books, 
colored maps, diagrams of many subjects, plaster casts, mani- 
kins, natural history cabinets, and class-room furniture. The 
Zoological Garden adjoins the botanical. It covers a goodly 
extent of ground, and is capitally arranged for observation 
in long avenues. Here, besides the animals usually found in 
menageries, the world over, one sees a, great variety peculiar 
to South America — such as llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and 
vicunas. Many of the best specimens were brought from 
Lima by the Chilians after the late war. To enter these 
gardens a slight charge is made at the principal gate. On 
leaving, I drove along the Alameda, a long and very broad 
boulevard, containing four rows of enormous poplars, a wide 



112 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

central path, statues, lines of tramway, and paved streets on 
the outer sides. This splendid avenue runs nearly the entire 
length of the city, and that portion of it nearest the Grand 
Plaza and the Cerro de Santa Lucia contains many hand- 
some private residences and some imposing public institu- 
tions. In returning to the hotel I was especially struck with 
the quantity and variety of the foreign element in Santiago, 
as evidenced by the business signs alone — French, German, 
Italian, English. But it is not in this city as in Valparaiso, 
where you seem scarcely to meet a native face in walking 
through the chief streets ; for here the peculiar Chilian type 
of feature and extreme of Paris fashion in dress are every- 
where obtrusive. A noticeable characteristic of the streets is 
the uniformed policemen, who wear swords, which it is said 
they sometimes are not slow to use. Perhaps they are not 
more prudent or less brutal than policemen in Kew York. 
At night they keep up a great noise by whistling one to the 
other, according to an accepted code. During the day they 
are inoffensive enough, walking quietly about, but at night 
they become an intolerable nuisance. This habit of constant 
whistling is altogether absurd in view of the fact that an 
intending evil-doer is thereby warned of the exact locality 
of the watchmen. 

At the principal theatre of Santiago I heard the opera of 
" Rigoletto," and saw the ballet entitled "Brahma." The 
theatre is a handsome building outside, and very comfortable 
and pretty inside. It is built in the form of a horseshoe, 
with four tiers of boxes, and is richly decorated in white and 
gold. A proscenium-box is set aside for the President of 
the Republic. The orchestra numbered seventy-five. The 
house was only partially filled, " Rigoletto " seeming every- 
where to have rather outlived its once great popularity. The 
ladies were richly dressed in gay-colored silks, without bon- 
nets or cloaks, but with very curious feathers perched upon 
the tops of their heads, sometimes spread out, though more 
often in balls that resembled powder-pufls. These plumy 
crests were eminently successful in making an otherwise well- 



THE CAPITAL OF CHILL 113 

dressed lady appear ridiculous. The performances of the 
singers, musicians, and dancers alike left very much to be 
desired. In fact, they would not bear comparison with any- 
respectable European or North American standard. 

I returned to Valparaiso and took steamer to Montevideo, 
Uruguay, via the Strait of Magellan and the Falkland Isl- 
ands. I had at first proposed to myself to go from Santiago 
across the Andes, by the TJspallata Pass, to Mendoza in the 
Argentine Republic, and thence by rail, in four days, to the 
city of Buenos Ayres. The actual passage through the 
mountains is from the village of Santa Rosa, the terminus 
of the railway from Santiago. From here the distance to 
Mendoza is about two hundred and fifty miles, and in sum- 
mer the journey is only a pleasant mule-ride of six days; 
but in winter snow-storms are frequent, there are heavy 
rains and furious gales, and all travel ceases save that of the 
native couriers. Even these are frequently snowed up for 
days in the snow-huts by the road-side, and occasionally they 
succumb to the hardships of the trip and perish. As it was 
still the closed or bad season, I decided it was best for me to 
go to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres by sea, and I afterward 
had great reason to congratulate myself on the choice. But 
I was not the less interested in learning some particulars of 
the overland routes from Chili to the Argentine Republic. 
It appears that, among very many that might be available, 
but six are frequently used. Of these, the Portillo Pass, the 
shortest but one of the highest, was that crossed by the illus- 
trious naturalist Darwin in 1834. The TJspallata, however, 
running between the two great peaks of Aconcagua and 
Tupungato, and nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea- 
level, is that most traversed at the present day. During the 
whole of summer great numbers of cattle are driven over this 
route from the dreary pampas of the Argentine to the fruit- 
ful valleys of Chili. At this season mules are employed in 
the trans- Andean journey, but in winter it is said to be best 
to go on foot. Then shoes of raw leather are worn, as ordi- 
nary boots would burn the feet. To keep one warm at night 
8 



114 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the extremely novel yet highly successful plan is adopted of 
taking along three or four dogs as sleeping partners. These 
are transformed to very active partners by day, when, as is 
necessary, they are provided with snow-shoes. For the 
human traveler, in addition to heavy winter clothing, sheep- 
skin trousers, with the wool inside of course, are used as a 
protection against frost-bite in wading through deep snow- 
drifts. The guides will carry a hundred pounds weight of 
baggage, and yet readily keep pace with the unladen traveler. 
On the Uspallata route are good post-houses, which, in addi- 
tion to being comfortable, fill the position of country stores, 
with large assortments of necessaries. The snow-houses 
above mentioned are distributed at dangerous points on the 
route. They are really houses of refuge for exhausted or 
storm-bound travelers. They are of uniform structure, a 
simple hut, about fifteen feet square, and the same in height, 
with no window and but one small door. No chimney being 
built, a fire used for both cooking and heating is made in the 
center of the room upon the ground, and sends forth smoke 
which proves a distressing nuisance to the wayfarer, who has 
often to pass several days thus " cabined, cribbed, confined." 
It has been proposed to connect the towns of Santa Rosa 
and Mendoza by a railroad through the Uspallata Pass, which 
would bring Buenos Ayres within twenty-nine hours of Val- 
paraiso. A concession has actually been granted with this end 
in view, and surveys have been made and work begun. The 
estimated cost is ten million dollars. The engineering work, 
though severe, would not be nearly as difficult as that upon 
either the Oroya or Arequipa-Puno roads of Peru. The 
Uspallata road would cross the Cordillera at the summit at 
an elevation of 10,568 feet, through a tunnel which would 
have to be two miles in length. The steepest incline would 
be three and one half per cent, and the minimum curve 
would have a radius of five hundred and fifty feet. The 
total distance from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres by this route 
would be eight hundred and seventy miles. This railroad is 
not yet completed, but a telegraph line has recently been 



TEE CAPITAL OF CEILI. 115 

finished between the two capitals. It is an iron-pole line, in 
connection with forty miles of cable, laid under the perpetual 
snows of the Andes, and will insure communication between 
Buenos Ayres and London, via Galveston, in a little over an 
hour. 

In many respects Chili is the most vigorous and power- 
ful of the South American nations. During the last ten 
years her revenues and foreign trade have each rather more 
than doubled. She has shown good sense in cultivating 
peace, rather than keeping up the war spirit, though she may 
take just pride in the prowess of her arms. With Peru and 
Bolivia both against her, this enterprising republic succeed- 
ed in inflicting on the former one of the most complete disas- 
ters, both by land and sea, recorded in recent warfare. She 
annihilated the really strong navy of Peru, carried her vic- 
torious army into Lima itself, broke the Peruvian army into 
fragments, until only a few fugitive guerrillas were left, and 
exacted a war indemnity, the cession of territory, and the 
control of the disputed nitrate and guano districts, as condi- 
tions of peace. Chili must of necessity ultimately become 
an industrial nation, and the completion of the trans- Andean 
railway, and foreign immigration, will greatly contribute to 
this end. 

In leaving Valparaiso I chose the German line of steam- 
ers which plies between Callao and Hamburg every three 
weeks, and which is styled the Kosmos Steamship Naviga- 
tion Company. My particular steamer was the Ramses, a 
fine little vessel of about two thousand tons burden, and one 
of the smallest of a fleet which numbers fourteen. We car- 
ried about a dozen first-class passengers, who nearly filled our 
little table and all the cabins. I found the accommodations, 
very comfortable, the food excellent, the servants attentive. 
We had a modern confusion of tongues on board, passengers 
and officers together speaking German, English, Spanish, 
French, Italian, and Portuguese. The English steamers pass 
only through the Strait of Magellan in going from ocean to 
ocean, but the German line passes also through a series of 



116 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

very beautiful fiords upon the western coast of Chili, styled 
in brief the Smyth's Channel route. Hence my preference 
for the German steamer. 

Near sunset, as we steamed rapidly out of the commodi- 
ous harbor of Valparaiso, I obtained superb views of the city 
and the surrounding hills. Grandest of all, however, the 
sublime Aconcagua deigned to unveil itself in all its majesty. 
A long range of lofty, snow-clad mountains extended from 
north to south, and from about their center, as I took my 
view, rose Aconcagua, twenty-three thousand four hundred 
feet in perpendicular height above the level of the sea. The 
clouds lay lightly upon parts of the range, but Aconcagua 
towered apparently twice as high as the others, qiute above 
the clouds, solitary, peaked, and serrated. It bore more the 
appearance of the great Himalaya summits than any others 
I had seen in South America, and for sublimity would rival 
the view of Chimborazo obtained from the Guayaquil Eiver. 
As the sun dropped into the dark ocean, the mountain-range, 
the earth whence it arose, and the firmament into which it 
soared, combined to form a most enchanting spectacle. The 
jet-black of unlit peaks, low down, contrasted with the brill- 
iant purple of illuminated ridges, higher up, and these, again, 
with the vast snow-fields, changed into a sea of flame by the 
expiring rays. Those beams in turn threw an iridescent 
light upon toppling banks of cloud, reflected themselves 
faintly upon the gray shipping in the harbor behind us, and 
made clear the horizon of the broad Pacific through which 
we were to plow. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FIORD AJSTD FUEGLAJST. 

Ouk first stop was at Lota, about thirty hours from Val- 
paraiso. It is a small village on the eastern side of a large 
indenture of the coast, named Arauco Bay, and is the seat 
of very extensive and valuable copper and coal mines. It 
contains two very large smelting- works. About a dozen col- 
liers were rolling in the swell as we dropped our anchor near 
an iron pier, on which an engine was drawing a coal- train to 
load a Chilian steamer. Around the roadstead are high 
bluffs, except in one level section where stand the village of 
Lota and the copper-works and houses of the workmen. 
Upon the hill to the northward is a lofty iron lighthouse 
which looks, at a distance, like an Egyptian minaret. It was 
not taken as spoils from the Egyptians, however, but from 
the Peruvians, during the late " unpleasantness." The cop- 
per mines and smelting- works in Lota are the sole property 
of Senora Cousifio, the wealthiest woman in Chili, and prob- 
ably in the world. She has a palace in Santiago, but resides 
in Lota a portion of the year, in a large and magnificent 
house with grounds beautified to the last degree both by 
nature and art, though more especially by the latter. The 
grounds constitute a veritable botanical garden. They com- 
prise great vegetable and flower inclosures, enormous green- 
houses, Turkish towers, fountains, belvederes by the sea, 
brooks, suspension-bridges, a labyrinth of arbor-vitse, ponds, 
grottoes, and waterfalls. Fifty men are constantly employed 
upon this splendid place, and you quickly realize the pro- 
priety of a Latin motto upon one of the bridges, " Labor 



118 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

omnia vincit." The fortune of Seiiora Cousino is estimated 
at hundreds of millions of dollars. She has millions of 
money, millions of acres of land, hundreds of thousands of 
cattle, coal, copper, and silver mines, acres of real estate in 
Valparaiso and Santiago, a fleet of eight iron steamships, 
smelting-works, a railroad, etc. Every house in Lota, a vil- 
lage of some seven thousand inhabitants, is hers, and to the 
people of this village she pays out over one hundred thou- 
sand dollars monthly. She owns the only large coal-mines 
in South America, from which alone she receives seventy- 
five thousand dollars a month. All these vast enterprises 
Seiiora Cousino herself controls and directs, exhibiting great 
foresight, breadth of purpose, and large ability as a manager 
of affairs. Her income of course is expressed in seven fig- 
ures. No wonder she is styled the " Countess " of Monte 
Cristo ! 

We shipped one hundred tons of bar-copper and a great 
quantity of tanned hides. Among other items in our cargo, 
received in Peruvian and Chilian ports, might be mentioned 
silver ore and ingots, copper ore and bars, bales of tobacco, 
sacks of horns, alpaca-skins and sheep-skins, bullocks' hides, 
borax, coca, barrels of honey, and rolls of sole-leather. We 
moved five miles to the eastward of Lota, to Coronel, and at 
once began the loading of five hundred tons of coal. This 
is the great coal region of Chili, one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand tons a year being dug from mines, most of which bor- 
der upon the sea. The coal is light, and inferior to that of 
Wales. Though it has good steaming qualities, it burns too 
quickly. It is largely used by the steamers which visit the 
west coast, and is also carried to other parts of the world. 
On leaving Coronel we experienced cold, squally weather. 
We passed first the Island of Chiloe, the northernmost of the 
great chain of islands and archipelagoes which extends from 
latitude 42° southward to Cape Horn. Chiloe is very hilly, 
and covered with forest. It is thinly peopled by Indians, 
but the interior has not been well explored. Money is 
almost unknown, and therefore business transactions are gen- 



FIORD AND FUEGIAK 119 

erally by barter. Next we pass Huafo Island and the Chonos 
Archipelago, a great number of rugged and barren islands, 
some of them as much as four thousand feet above the sea. 
The formation of many of the islands is a sandstone so soft 
as to be easily cut with a knife. Upon the mainland are 
several peaks, the loftiest being nearly ten thousand feet, 
though we get but occasional glimpses of them on account 
of the bad weather. It becomes so cold that a fire is made 
in our cabin stove. We keep steadily on, passing the Tay- 
tas Peninsula and Cape Tres Montes, named from its three 
small hills. In the interior, on the boundary between Chili 
and the Argentine Republic, is Mount St. Valentin, nearly 
thirteen thousand feet high. During the following two days 
the steamer scarcely advanced at all, and rolled so badly that 
it was really dangerous to try to get from one part of the 
deck to another. However, we succeeded at last in crossing 
the Gulf of Penas, and entered Messier Channel — the beo-in- 
ning of our fiord navigation — between Wellington Island 
and the mainland. 

Wellington is the largest island on the coast of Chili, 
being one hundred and forty miles long and about thirty 
wide. It seems to support nothing better than several kinds 
of evergreens, antarctic beeches, and a sort of soft, spongy 
moss. Messier Channel varies from six hundred feet to 
three miles in width. Its navigation is not difficult, save in 
the most straitened part — called the English Narrows— 
where the tide runs about seven miles an hour. This section 
it is customary to pass only at slack water. At night the 
steamers anchor, though American mail -steamers of four 
thousand tons, and English war- vessels of even greater ton- 
nage, have safely gone through this contracted passage. The 
scenery of the channel, up to the spot just above the English 
Narrows, where we anchored to await the turn of the tide, 
was extremely diversified. There were thickly wooded isl- 
ands, on the mainland low, grassy hills, and behind them 
higher ranges and peaks of every contour, but devoid of 
vegetation and covered with snow. The scenery is very like 



120 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

that of the southern fiords of Norway. To the eastward of 
the English Narrows is a volcano seven thousand feet in 
height, named Fitzroy, from the famous English navigator 
of that name, who was captain of the Beagle on the expedi- 
tion around the world which Charles Darwin accompanied 
as naturalist. But we do not get extended views of the 
mountain scenery, owing to the misty and cloudy atmos- 
phere. In this locality, and especially at this time of the 
year, there is almost perpetual rain, with much fog, occa- 
sional snow, and often heavy squalls, which come down the 
precipitous mountain-sides with a very dangerous force. As 
on the coast of Norway, so on that of Chili, the fiords are 
generally very deep and their shores very steep. Before 
entering the English Narrows our boats were swung out and 
half lowered, to be ready in case of running upon rock or 
reef, or any other possible emergency. The whole crew 
were told off for special service. A number stood in the 
stern prepared at once to rig the auxiliary steering apparatus 
should that in customary use give way. The carpenter and 
a boatswain remained at the windlass in the prow quite ready 
to let go the anchor at a moment's notice. The channel had 
some pretty sharp turns, and at the narrowest place — about 
six hundred feet across — slack water was on one side and a 
current on the other. Still we went gayly through, steam- 
ing along at full speed. The woody little islands recalled 
several of the Scotch lakes, but the rough, snow-covered hills 
spoke only of Norway or Alaska. The southern half of Mes- 
sier Channel contracts to about half a mile, with walls of al- 
most perpendicular rock, from one to three thousand feet in 
height, and with no vegetation except near the water's edge. 
This part is appropriately styled Chasm Beach. Little cas- 
cades trickled down all the nearer hills, and upon some of 
them were pretty miniature glaciers. One huge, dome-shaped 
mountain seemed to be a solid mass of granite, without a sin- 
gle scrap of verdure. As we passed on, the light green of 
the trees, the darker green of the scrub, the brown of the 
moss, the purple of the great bare rock, the pure white snow, 



FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 121 

and the leaden-colored clouds above, made up a series of ex- 
quisite panoramas. 

During the following day we had in almost continual 
view a range of magnificent, snow-covered mountains, per- 
haps a hundred miles in length, and belonging to the same 
great chain of Andes which extends, almost unbroken, from 
the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn. The range which we 
saw from the steamer was about eighty miles distant. The 
highest point, a splendid pyramid of rock and snow, called 
Mount Stokes, was sixty-four hundred feet in height. The 
whole range, observed from the sea-level, loomed in the air 
with all the grandeur of mountains twenty thousand feet in 
height, as usually seen from points on land probably half 
their altitude. These Chilian mountains are of the most 
fantastic description. Their contour is infinite. They are 
peaked, jagged, dome and pyramid shaped. Lofty, needle- 
like summits often occur, and the amount of snow which ad- 
heres to their almost perpendicular sides is simply astonish- 
ing. There are, too, scores of glaciers as splendid as any in 
Switzerland. But how can I give the reader an idea of the 
varying colors, the weirdness, and the utter savageness of 
this antarctic scenery ? An artist would rave, a poet would 
rhyme. At first I thought of Norway, then of Switzerland, 
then of Bolivia, and then of India ; but the unobstructed 
view of these mountains, on a perfectly clear day — a very un- 
usual thing in these parts — is much grander than anything in 
Norway, quite equal to anything in Switzerland, and only 
surpassed by the ranges of Bolivia and India. They took, as 
I have said, every conceivable shape, and it needed but little 
help from the imagination to behold great white Kremlins, 
cathedrals like that at Milan, pyramids like Cheops, towers 
like those of Notre Dame, pinnacles like the Needles of the 
English Channel. At every turn of our steamer there were 
novel and romantic visions. At one point, that opposite 
Nelson Strait, which communicates directly with the Pacific, 
we saw an especially magnificent glacier of pure green ice, 
winding down a mountain, its base almost reaching the sur- 



122 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

face of the fiord. Glaciers so numerous and vast, snow-fields 
so measureless, I have never seen in any other part of the 
globe. Several times during the day we could look between 
the islands and obtain pleasing vistas of the distant ocean. 
And to think that all these beautiful and majestic scenes are 
altogether unknown to the general tourist, and all but un- 
known to even world-wide travelers ! Though I had a choice 
of routes from Santiago to Buenos Ayres or Montevideo, and 
though I had questioned a dozen people as to which route 
was the most interesting, no one especially commended to 
me that course by which I should see the picturesque won- 
ders of Messier and Sarmiento Channels. And yet the fiords 
and mountains of southern Chili I found excelled in grand- 
eur and beauty those of Norway, as much as the latter, in 
turn, surpass those of Alaska. No one should visit either 
Valparaiso or Montevideo without making this tour of the 
Chilian bays and inlets ; and I hope to live to see either a 
" Murray " or " Baedeker " hand-book devoted to their 
charms. The winter season would be the best time of year 
to make this trip — preferably the months of July, August, 
and September. 

The Fuegians — half-naked savages, very low in the scale of 
civilization — I had the opportunity of studying on two occa- 
sions : once while we were lying at anchor in Smyth Chan- 
nel, opposite Mount Burney ; and once in Magellan Strait, 
between Croker Peninsula and Santa Inez Island. After we 
had dropped anchor in the former, late one afternoon, we 
went ashore in search of the Indians, at a small, low, scrubby 
island, called, rather inconsiderately, Summer Island. The 
pebbly shore shelved so gradually, and was so thickly fringed 
with kelp, as to prevent a near approach, and the sailors bore 
us to land upon their shoulders. The beaches seemed to be 
composed wholly of the shells of mussels, limpets, and other 
shell-fish. The island was covered with beech and fir trees, 
ferns, myrtles, and coarse grass. At one point I came across 
some deserted huts or wigwams of the Indians, almost hidden 
in the dense scrub adjoining the widely sloping beach. The 



FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 123 

wigwams were of two sizes, the smaller being set apart for 
the children. The larger were of an oval shape, made of 
saplings stuck in the ground, and fastened together with 
osiers at the center and top. They were about ten feet in 
length, five in width, and five in height. These frames are 
generally covered with seal-skins, leaving only a single small 
opening for an entrance, through which the Indians must 
crawl. The floor is of dried grass, and possibly skins also may 
be introduced to serve as rugs or couches. The smaller wig- 
wams were not more than four feet in diameter and three in 
height. Before these dwellings was a great heap of discarded 
mussel-shells, reminding one of the kitchen-middings or old 
shell-mo unds of Scandinavia. 

We had scarcely returned to the steamer, regretting that 
we had not found the Fuegians at home, when we saw a canoe 
pushing off from a distant island, and slowly bearing down 
upon us. Lights were at once displayed, and we prepared to 
give the occupants of the canoe a cordial reception. They 
came on awkwardly and with much gabbling, in a boat about 
twenty-five feet long, four feet wide, and three feet deep, with 
comparatively sharp ends, each of which had an occupant. 
When the boat was secured alongside, I observed that it was 
made of plank, sewed together with fibers, and propelled by 
oars made of flat slices of board fastened to the end of a pole. 
These were used by the men near the prow, while in the 
stern a woman steered with a short paddle. The boats are 
unwieldy and logy, and the Indians seemed to have no knack 
of propelling them at any sort of speed. Certainly they have 
none of the graceful gliding of the canoes of the North 
American Indians, or of the dug-outs of the Maories of New 
Zealand. On a heap of sand or earth upon the bottom, there 
is always kept burning a small fire, not for cooking purposes, 
for they rarely cook anything, but for warmth, and at night 
also for light. In the special canoe, which paid us the honor 
of a visit, were just twenty people — five men, four women, 
and eleven children. Eight miserable dogs, used in hunting, 
were likewise accommodated. All the Indians were jabbering, 



124 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

gesticulating, and giggling, like a lot of school children out 
for a holiday. The men, and some of the boys, came on 
board, the men with otter and seal skins of not the best qual- 
ity, which they wished to barter for tobacco, food, and cloth- 
ing. These people were very short in stature, and slightly 
made. Their legs were thin, misshapen, and calfless, as usual 
with the lower races of savage man. Their stomachs were 
as protuberant as those of the clay-eaters of the Orinoco. 
Their color was a dark brown or mahogany. Their eyes 
were black and bright, and betokened an intelligence which 
was hardly fulfilled. The faces were quite as broad as long. 
The nose was flat and short, mouth large, with very thick 
lips, and good teeth ; and the men had slight mustaches but 
no beard. They had great shocks of stiff, black hair, cut about 
two inches long upon the crown, and " banged " straight 
across the forehead, just above the eyes, but left long behind 
and at the sides. A fillet of ribbon or string is generally 
bound about the head, in true Greek or Roman style. The 
children were especially animated, and one or two were actu- 
ally handsome. These people are almost as hardy as the 
Esquimaux or Laplanders. It was a bitter cold, rainy, and 
windy night, and yet the men were almost naked, the chil- 
dren wholly so, and the women partially so — seeming, in fact, 
to care less about dress than the men. A few had seal-skins 
loosely attached to their shoulders, and altogether open in 
front ; some wore old pieces of coarse sacking ; others sported 
European coats or jackets, but evidently these were worn 
more for variety than either decency or comfort. Men and 
women alike will remove and sell you any skin they may 
have on — save their own — for a little ship's biscuit, or to- 
bacco, or a box of matches. Besides skins, they proffer in 
barter their domestic utensils and their weapons, generally 
bows and arrows, the arrows not feathered, and the barb con- 
sisting of a triangular piece of glass ground sharp. "While 
the men were on the steamer's deck engaged in traffic, the 
women in the boat were singing a plaintive kind of song, and 
the children were staring with all their eyes, and with open 



FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 125 

mouth, at the wonderful fire-boat and its pale-faced occu- 
pants. They were constantly chattering to each other in a 
sort of guttural, disconnected talk, which distantly resembled 
Japanese. The largest children were squatting all in a heap 
near the fire. One of the women, who sat in the stern to 
steer, had, after the fashion of a hen, two or three very young 
children or babies between her legs and in her lap, to keep 
them warm, I suppose, for they had not a stitch of clothing 
upon them. The sailors gave the men pipes to smoke, first 
showing them how the feat was accomplished, and rigged 
them out with old caps, coats, trousers, shirts, and drawers. 
The cook poured into their boat an enormous panful of 
hard-tack, or ship's biscuit, for which there was a great 
scramble and much noisy congratulation. Liquor was given 
them, but they did not take so kindly to this as to the to- 
bacco. One of our crew then brought out an accordion, and 
endeavored to get them to dance or at least sing, but he was 
not at all successful in the latter, and only partially with the 
former. Their dance was simply a sort of hopping, with 
both feet together. 

I could not but be struck with the bright, curious eyes of 
the children of both sexes, and wonder if, any decent sort of 
opportunities being given them, something of civilization 
might not adhere to them. The circumstances of their pres- 
ent life seemed so very hard that I could not help thinking, 
if an American were to take their place and conditions, how 
many generations would have to pass ere he would reach their 
intellectual level. The missions which have been and are 
being tried fail to lessen their barbarism. Several of these 
natives have, at different times, been taken to England, edu- 
cated, and kindly treated. They have shown much aptness, 
but within a few weeks of their restoration to their native 
haunts they have relapsed into their primeval savagery. My 
experience of them was of the most pleasant and peaceful 
character ; but they are said to be very greedy and thievish 
— nay, more, brutal, fierce, and quite willing to shed blood 
to obtain booty. They have frequently assailed, and several 



126 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

times overcome, the crews of ships passing through these 
channels. As recently as 1862 a Boston ship was attacked 
in the Straits of Magellan by twenty canoes, filled with armed 
Fuegians, who boarded her and killed eight of the crew, 
though they were ultimately beaten off with great slaughter. 



CHAPTER XT. 

THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 

"We passed from Smyth's Channel to the Strait of Ma- 
gellan, with Cape Pillar just discernible about thirty miles to 
the west, at the extremity of Desolation Island. The names 
of localities hereabout are somehow not especially cheerful 
or inspiriting. Thus, besides that just mentioned, we have 
Fatal Bay, Port Famine, Escape Reach, Last Wreck Point, 
Thieves' Island, Hope Inlet, Fury Islands, and Dislocation 
Harbor ! It need scarcely be said that the Strait of Ma- 
gellan, or Magalhaens, is so named in honor of its discov- 
erer, the famous Portuguese navigator, Fernando de Magal- 
haens, in 1520. His expedition was thirty-seven days in 
passing from ocean to ocean. Now but two, or at most three, 
days are needed. The northern part of the strait is the 
country of the Patagonians, two thirds of it belonging to 
Chili, and the remaining third to the Argentine Republic. 
The large island of Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, is to 
the south, and was so named by Magalhaens from the great 
number of fires which he saw the first night he approached 
it. The strait is four hundred miles in length, and varies 
from four to twenty miles in width. The depth is usually 
great. Sailing-vessels rarely, if ever, attempt this passage 
between the great oceans, on account of the baffling winds, 
the furious squalls, the often thick, wet weather, the strong 
currents, and the harbors, most of which are difficult of in- 
gress and egress. There are few or no inhabitants directly 
upon the strait. ~No quadrupeds are encountered, save the 
sea-otter, whose tracks in the sands and whose carcass in the 
hands of the Indians I frequently saw. On the islands are 



128 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ducks, geese, snipe, plover, cormorants, penguins, swans, seals, 
and sea-lions. Humming-birds may sometimes be seen in 
considerable numbers in the coves, and even occasionally may 
be noticed flying about near the foot of an enormous gla- 
cier. Upon the shores are mussels and limpets, and inland 
are berries, wild celery, evergreen scrub, firs, and the antarctic 
beech. In the waters are bass, mullet, and very fine smelts 
— the best fish of the strait. 

We pass Cape Froward, the southernmost point of the 
mainland of the South American Continent. Here, at the 
water's edge, is a dark mass of rock, about five hundred feet 
in height, joined by a low neck of land to a great range of 
snow-covered hills, averaging about twenty-five hundred feet 
in height. Cape Horn is situated upon a small island, distant 
some two hundred miles in a southeasterly direction. Cape 
Froward is at about the middle of the Strait of Magellan, 
and here the grand scenery of the Cordilleras of the western 
coast suddenly ceases, the strait widens to some twenty miles, 
and the land becomes low and monotonous, though still cov- 
ered with snow. A few miles to the eastward of Cape Fro- 
ward we pass the wreck of the steamer Cordillera, of the 
Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which here ran upon a 
reef during a heavy snow-storm, about five years ago. The 
passengers and crew, taking to the boats, were all saved ; but 
one of two sailors who were left behind to take care of the 
hulk was afterward killed by the natives, the other succeed- 
ing in making his escape. If the weather is good, steamers 
travel all night in the strait ; but if it is bad, they anchor. 
Directly south of Cape Froward we had a good view of 
Mount Sarmiento, seven thousand feet high, a nearly perfect 
pyramidal mountain, and perhaps the most striking one in 
the Magellanic Archipelago. It may be seen for a hundred 
miles in very clear weather. To the eastward of this, and 
about as lofty, is another famous peak, Mount Darwin. South 
of these mountains runs what is called Darwin Sound, a 
navigable stretch of water, upon which there is an English 
mission station. About half-way between Cape Froward and 



THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 129 

Punta Arenas is Port Famine, which was the site of an old 
Spanish colony, and then the Chilian penal settlement, which 
was afterward removed to Sandy Point. 

Punta Arenas, or Sandy Point, where we anchor and 
land some freight, consisting of provisions, is a small town 
lying upon a level plain, with a range of snow-covered hills, 
a thousand feet in height, as a background. It is not only 
the most southerly town of South America, but of the world. 
The most northerly is Hammerfest, in Norway, which I had 
already visited. In the roadstead were small Argentine and 
Chilian gunboats, a coal-barge, an English dispatch-boat, and 
a small English ship. Punta Arenas is mostly of one-story 
houses, built without regularity. Adjoining it are mossy 
fields and low hills covered with burned timber. Directly 
opposite Sandy Point, across the strait, is the great island of 
Tierra del Fuego, two thirds of which (the western) belong 
to Chili and the remainder to the Argentine Republic. 
Punta Arenas was originally founded in 1843, and, as above 
stated, was kept only as a penal settlement, and began to de- 
cline on this account, but in consequence of the rapid in- 
crease of traffic through the strait, the mail-steamers plying 
between Europe and the west coast of South America having 
adopted this route, the Chilian Government, seeing its grow- 
ing importance as a station of call and supply, in 1868 made 
grants of land to immigrants, and sent out some three hun- 
dred settlers, together with a governor. Wood for building 
purposes was taken, and supplies to last until the immigrants 
could clear and cultivate their own lots. Convicts are sent 
no longer. There used to be a military guard, but that was 
withdrawn during the war with Peru, and all the prisoners 
who would consent to enter the army got a ticket- of -leave. 
The population of the colony in 1868 was two hundred ; in 
1888 it was about two thousand. Gold and silver are found 
in the neighborhood and are exported, though coal is the 
chief industry. The mines are worked by a company, who 
pay a very small tax to the Chilian Government for the 
privilege. The consumption of this coal is constantly on 
9 



130 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

the increase. It is a good " steam " coal, and is found with- 
in five miles of the town, to which it is brought on a tram- 
way. Steamers which formerly had to go to the Falkland 
Islands, a distance of nearly five hundred miles, now get 
their supplies at Punta Arenas. Cattle and vegetables thrive 
well here, notwithstanding the high latitude. At varying 
seasons are to be found parrots, snipe, ducks, geese, wood- 
peckers, a species of ibis, and some other small birds. Very 
good mushrooms are obtained in great quantities. 

The town is interesting because it is the largest settle- 
ment in southern Chili and the only one in the strait. It 
is about four thousand miles from the southernmost town on 
the west coast to the first port on the eastern side, a voyage 
which ordinarily requires fifteen or sixteen days ; and as 
Punta Arenas is about in the middle of the way, it possesses 
special attraction. Its population represents all sorts and 
conditions of men, from the primeval type to the pure Cau- 
casian — ex-convicts, fugitives, wrecked seamen, deserters 
from all the navies in the world, Chinamen, negroes, Poles, 
Italians, Sandwich-Islanders, Portuguese, wandering Jews, 
and human driftwood of every tongue and clime, cast up by 
the sea, and absorbed in a community scarcely one of whom 
would be willing to tell why he came here, nor willing to 
stay if he could get away. It is said that in Punta Arenas 
can be found an interpreter for every language known to the 
modern world ; but, although the place belongs to Chili, 
English is generally spoken. Here are to be purchased many 
interesting relics, Indian trifles, shells and flying- fish, tusks of 
sea-lions, serpent-skins, agates from Cape Horn, turtle-shells, 
the curious tails of the armadillo, in which the Patagonians 
carry their war-paint, and the skins of the guanaco, ostrich, 
and seal. Undoubtedly the prettiest things are the ostrich 
rugs, made of the breasts of the young birds, as soft as down, 
and as beautiful as plumage can be. The plumes of the 
ostrich are plucked from the wings and tail while the bird is 
alive, but to make a rug the little ones are killed and skinned 
and the soft, fluffy breasts are sewed together until they reach 



THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 131 

the size of a blanket. Those of brown and those of the 
purest white are alternate in the same rug, and produce a 
fine artistic effect. They are too dainty and beautiful to be 
spread upon the floor, but can be used as carriage-robes, or 
to throw over the back of a couch or chair. Sometimes 
ladies use them as panels for the front of dress skirts. Thus 
applied they are more striking than any fabric a loom can 
produce. Opera-cloaks have also been made of them, to the 
gratification of the aesthetic. They are too rare to be com- 
mon, and too beautiful ever to tire the eye. 

A very great contrast exists between the western and 
eastern half of the Strait of Magellan. In the former we 
had majestic snow mountains, glaciers, giant hills of purple 
rock, black water, and cloudy and blustery weather ; but on 
rounding Cape Froward the scene changes as by magic. The 
hills melt away to nothing — Tierra del Fuego is so low as 
scarcely to be seen — low ranges of grassy uplands diversify 
the interior, and between them and the channel are shingly, 
treeless plains. The water becomes a beautiful bright green, 
the heavens clear, and the bright sun once again gives us 
light and heat and joy. The width at the western entrance 
of the strait, from Cape Pillar to the opposite island, is ten 
miles, while the Atlantic entrance is twenty miles across. 
As we passed Cape Yirgins, a bluff on the northern point 
about one hundred and fifty feet high — the southern point 
lies so low it can be seen only on especially clear days — the 
great golden globe of the full moon floated up from a cloud- 
less horizon, Yenus sparkled behind us, and the gorgeous 
Southern Cross above, the wind freshened to half a gale, great 
white caps illumined the wave-crests, the air became crisp and 
bracing, the dark, thin line of coast fast faded away, and we 
entered upon the broad bosom of the Atlantic and headed 
toward the east and our next haven in the Falkland Islands. 

The Island of Tierra del Fuego, which I was so rapidly 
leaving, is by no means the region of perpetual snow that it 
has been supposed to be. It abounds with beautiful scenery 
— rich valleys, plains of grass, mountains, lakes, rivers — con- 



132 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

tains great quantities of gold, and lias a climate less rigorous 
than that of Canada. The inhabitants, however, are the 
most barbarous of savages. They are of two distinct classes, 
the Yahgans, or southern tribes, and the Onas, who inhabit 
the northern part of the island. The Yahgans are not can- 
nibals, as has been believed, and they do not eat meat which 
is not cooked. They are chiefly fishers and hunters, and the 
women are the best of swimmers. The women have the 
right to sell all the fish they catch beyond those required for 
the family, and are said to be good cooks, though they never 
knew anything about boiling their food until lately, and had 
no vessels in which they could do so. They do not inter- 
marry with blood relatives, and the men have one, two, or 
three wives, according to circumstances. They are great 
quarrelers among themselves, and are both crafty and treach- 
erous. Having no fixed principles, they are governed en- 
tirely by their desires and passions. Tattooing is unknown, 
but the girls paint their faces for fashion and the men for 
mourning. They are fond of each other's company, and, 
sitting around the fires of their huts or wigwams, they are 
very jovial over their meals. When they have satisfied their 
hunger in the amplest manner — for they generally have an 
abundance of food — they indulge in the most animated con- 
versation and in the most extravagant demonstrations of joy. 
Their laughter is natural and hearty, but it is sometimes so 
excessive and boisterous as to drive a serious person quite 
frantic. These Indians are not nearly so fine looking as the 
Onas, who are tall and muscular, with broad shoulders and 
well-developed chests. Their height is often over six feet. 
The face is oval shaped, the forehead narrow, the eyebrows 
slightly arched, and the cheek-bones prominent. They have 
small mouths, yellow teeth, and aquiline noses. Their beard 
is very scanty ; their dark, lusterless, woolly hair falls in tufts 
around a large tonsure clipped close on the top of the head. 
Their skin is of a clear copper color, and it is soft and oily 
to the touch. The men do the hunting, while the women 
do the heavy work and carry the burdens. 



THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 133 

The Falklands are distant about three hundred miles in 
an easterly direction from Magellan Strait, but we shall 
have to steam four hundred miles passing around their south- 
ern and eastern sides to Port William and Stanley, the seat 
of government and largest settlement upon the islands. The 
voyage of the German steamers from Montevideo to Val- 
paraiso is sixteen days, and from Yalparaiso to Montevideo 
eighteen days. The difference in time is due chiefly to the 
fact that in coming out from Europe the steamers are apt to 
have less freight, and therefore do not need to call so often or 
stay so long for coals. There are twelve steamers a year, or 
one a month, which call at the Falkland Islands — half of these 
stopping on the outward voyage and half on the homeward. 
To visit the Falklands generally adds from two to three days to 
the length of the voyage. The Kosmos, which has a subven- 
tion from the British Government for carrying the mail, is 
the only line of steamers of any nationality running regularly 
to this group. Our high southwesterly winds continued, with 
bright, cold weather, and with nights the stellar glories of 
which no pencil could portray. Our steamer was followed by 
many cape pigeons, a few ducks, and still fewer albatrosses. 

Late in the evening of the second day after leaving Punta 
Arenas we sighted the Falklands, and in the morning saw 
plainly, in the middle of the eastern island (there being two 
large islands and many smaller ones), a range of hills about 
two thousand feet high, running east and west, and covered 
with snow. The land adjoining the coast was covered with 
brownish grass, but no trees or even scrub were in sight. 
The aspect was of low, smoothly undulating hills. Passing 
Wolf Pock, upon which the waves dashed their spray fully 
thirty feet in the air, we soon rounded Cape Pembroke, a 
flat, sandy peninsula, upon which stands a lighthouse over 
a hundred feet in height, and then entered Port William, a 
long, narrow bay with a low bluff to the north, and a num- 
ber of small islands covered with coarse grass to the south, 
the mainland here being heaped with drift-sand and looking 
as arid and yellow as an African desert. Near where the 



134 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

bight closes we turn abruptly to the left and pass, through 
a narrow channel, between two sharp and low headlands, 
directly into Stanley Harbor. The opening is but six hun- 
dred feet wide (the same width as the English Narrows), and 
with a depth of only thirty-five feet. Stanley's may there- 
fore be classed among the most completely landlocked har- 
bors in the world. It is three miles in length, and about 
half a mile in breadth. I found in the harbor three or four 
decayed and dismantled ships ; a huge, old-fashioned hulk 
which contained our proposed freight of wool, tallow, and 
sheep-skins ; a small German steamer of the same company as 
our own, and employed as a sort of tender ; and a little brig 
which is used by the different sheep-farmers of the islands 
to take their produce to Stanley, whence it is shipped to 
Europe. A long, low range of grass and peat covered hills 
extends, with a gentle slope, to the water along the southern 
side of the harbor, and here lies Stanley, the monotonous 
gray and brown of its houses hardly discernible from the 
great, bare rocks. Scarcely a tree or bush of any sort is in 
view. Directly opposite the entrance of the harbor lies the 
cemetery, a large plot filled with simple head-stones and black 
or white wooden crosses. The town consists mostly of two 
long, macadamized streets, running parallel with the harbor. 
There are several large warehouses for storing wool, tallow, 
and sheep-skins, but only a few anyway striking buildings. 
One is of cut brownstone, with a lofty central clock-tower, 
containing in one wing the church and in the other the 
school ; another is a square, two-story brick edifice, the dwell- 
ing of the director of the Falkland Islands Sheep Farming 
Company. The residence of the English governor is at the 
western extremity of the town, a picturesque country-seat of 
gray stone. The greater part of the settlement consists of 
simple, one or two story wooden houses, having roofs of gal- 
vanized iron. Piercing all these roofs are chimneys, whence 
the smoke of peat or coal issues throughout the year, so bleak 
is the climate. A few greenhouses and attempts at gardens 
are seen, but hardly anything can be made to grow out-of- 



THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 135 

doors. The only available meat the citizens can have is 
mutton, which, however, is second only to Southdown, all 
other meats and provisions being brought from either South 
America or Europe. "Wild fowl and fish are very abundant. 
The decidedly English expression of the town is greatly 
heightened upon going on shore, where I land upon a small 
jetty, at whose extremity stands a pyramidal brick and stone 
monument, bearing on a tablet the rather inexpressive com- 
munication, "Alfred, 24th February, 1874." Knowing that 
many nations had at different times claimed possession of 
these islands, and that several conflicts had resulted, it was 
but natural to suppose that this proud pile distinguished the 
spot where some British Horatius Coccles had single-handed 
repelled the landing cutters of several French or Spanish 
men-of-war, and that his appreciative countrymen had thus 
familiarly and affectionately, not to say touchingly, made the 
fact known to such of the great world as might by accident 
stray thither. The idea greatly pleased me — for have not 
both ancients and moderns always thus honored true valor? 
— and I walked up the pier, eager to know more of this 
noble hero called Alfred. The charming simplicity of the 
sweetly pretty name, Alfred, as well as the mystery of the 
pregnant date, fired me with ardent curiosity. I did not 
remember where Alfred the Great was buried, but I felt 
almost sure that he had been dead more than eleven years. 
The very first citizen I met I begged to tell me more of this 
brave, this doughty Alfred, apologizing of course for a mem- 
ory defective in matters of historical detail. And my blood 
almost congealed within my veins, and my heart stood still 
with awe, as I learned that here — here on this very spot — a 
"real live " English prince had once set his holy foot, on com- 
ing ashore to pay a visit to the governor ! First and last, he 
had placed the aforesaid sacred member upon many wharves, 
but not I believe everywhere had imposing monuments of 
brick and stone been reared in reverence. My informer 
stood solemn and serious, but there is no use in denying that 
I was profligate enough to laugh. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE FORLORN FALKLANDS. 

Other evidences of a British population were furnished 
in such titles of public-houses as the " Stanley Arms," the 
"Globe Tavern," "Rose Hotel," and the "Ship Hotel." 
One house bore an elaborate sign, which informed the passer- 
by that it contained a " Millinery, Drapery, and Haberdash- 
ery Store." Upon another the sign, in very large letters, 
" Store," was thought by the proprietor sufficiently express- 
ive ; and in this part of the world it is, for a " store " con- 
tains goods of every kind, from boots to potatoes, from jew- 
elry to crockery. In Stanley reside a dozen consuls and 
vice-consuls, their offices being indicated by the coats-of-arms 
of their respective nations, excepting in the few cases where 
the same person represents three or four foreign countries. 
This arrangement would, I should imagine, give rise to amus- 
ing complications in the event of war breaking out between 
any of those powers. The strong armament of Stanley con- 
sists of a battery of four nine-pounders near the water's edge, 
about the center of the town, and another, of the same profu- 
sion and enormous caliber, adjoining the governor's house. 
Here also, at this high official's gate, stands a sentry-box in 
true St. James Palace style. Of course it is generally un- 
occupied, but the feeling of perfect security which it must 
impart to the representative of her Gracious Majesty, and 
the sense of state and power which it does convey to the 
republican traveler, who can estimate ? It seemed altogether 
a tit counterpart to the grave of King Alfred, at the opposite 
extremity of the town. The governor is elected for six years, 
as well as two other of the principal officers, but the majority 
of the governmental staff are sent out from England for no 



THE FORLORN FALKLANDS. 137 

specified time. The total population of the islands is about 
two thousand, there being two or three little villages besides 
Stanley, and the remainder of the inhabitants dwelling 
mostly upon widely separated sheep-runs. The islands are 
roadless, but contain a number of horse-trails, and these form 
the popular means of travel for the sheep-farmers, though 
when convenient, and especially for short distances, the sea, 
with small sail or whale boats, gives passage. For crossing 
Falmouth Sound, between the two large islands, the brig 
which carries the produce, or a large steam-launch, must be 
used. The weather is almost continually bad throughout the 
year — it is the exception when a gale of wind is not blowing 
— but, nevertheless, Stanley is regarded as a healthy town ; 
and, moreover, rainy and windy weather, with an occasionally 
clear sky, is amusingly termed by the residents a " good " day. 
We arrived too late on Saturday to take on board our freight 
of three hundred and sixty bales of wool, one hundred casks 
of tallow, and twenty bales of sheep-skins, and the following 
day being Sunday, on which the English neither do any manner 
of work nor permit any to be done, we were obliged to remain 
quiet, tied up to the company's shipping hulk. The English, 
I believe, are the only nation in the world who hold such pecul- 
iar and utterly inconsistent views regarding Sunday, but in 
our case it was a very stormy day, and so we made ourselves 
as contented as possible in our snug little saloon, with a good 
library of German classics. From a gentleman who has re- 
sided in Stanley for thirty years, and who called on board, I 
gathered many interesting facts winch are not widely known. 
The Falkland group embraces two principal islands, sep- 
arated by a strait varying in breadth from two to twenty 
miles, and about two hundred smaller islands clustered around 
them, and in the strait between them. The eastern island 
is about one hundred miles long, and half as broad ; the west- 
ern is considerably smaller. The whole group is deeply and 
variously indented by sounds, bays, harbors, creeks, and inlets. 
Probably there is no part of the world where so many good 
harbors exist. The southern portions of the east Falkland 



138 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

are, as I have already indicated, so low that they are hardly 
perceptible from the deck of a steamer at a distance of five 
miles ; hut the western island is more diversified, there being 
a number of hills rising to a height of between one thousand 
and twenty-five hundred feet above sea-level. There are but 
few rivers in the Falklands, the San Carlos in the eastern isl- 
and being the largest, about thirty miles long, but not navi- 
gable. No trees shade the islands, and the sole shrub is a tea- 
plant. The nearest approach to a tree is a sort of box, which 
grows to the height of three feet. Probably trees would grow, 
if planted and cultivated, and if gales did not so eternally 
prevail. The temperature is equable, but the average is natu- 
rally very low. Celery grows in wild luxuriance. There is 
a large, round, green plant (found in Patagonia also), which, 
when dried, makes a capital kindling. It also exudes a kind 
of gum which is used as a curative. But the most remark- 
able plant that grows upon the Falklands is a gigantic sedgy 
grass called tussock. The length of the stalk is about six feet, 
and of the blade seven feet. The plants grow in dense tufts, 
and as many as two hundred and fifty roots spring from one 
tuft. Cattle and horses feed on it with avidity, and speedily 
become fat. The prairies are mostly of bog, covered with 
these heavy bunches of grass, and the islands are undoubtedly 
the best adapted for sheep-grazing. The sheep have no ene- 
mies to contend against, and so thrive and multiply. Espe- 
cially do those of European breeds flourish. Cheviot sheep 
have been introduced, and yield as many as twelve pounds of 
fleece. Scattered over the two large islands are many small 
fresh- water lakes and innumerable springs. This of course is 
of the greatest importance in the raising of cattle. The best 
ground for cultivation extends in plains from five to twenty 
miles along the margin of the sea, though it is only here and 
there, in sheltered nooks, that grain can be ripened, or Euro- 
pean vegetables or flowers brought to any degree of perfection. 
Though by geographical position of the greatest impor- 
tance to the mercantile world, these islands were but little 
regarded lip to 1845. This seems strange, for their numer- 



THE FORLORN FALKLAKBS. 139 

ous and splendid harbors afford protection to all sorts of 
shipping, and give opportunity for the repairing of injuries 
sustained by vessels passing in the vicinity of Cape Horn, 
where a larger amount of annual injury is done by severe 
weather than in any other locality. In 1845 an English- 
man named Lafone, who had been engaged in the hide 
and cattle trade on the River Plate, entered into negotia- 
tions with the English Government for a contract to pur- 
chase the southern part of the large eastern island, and several 
of the small adjacent islands, upon the payment of fifty thou- 
sand dollars at the time of the contract and one hundred thou- 
sand dollars in the year 1862. In 1851 a company was formed 
in London to carry out more fully the scheme of turning the 
advantages of the islands and their herds of wild cattle to 
greater account. It was incorporated by royal charter, and 
purchased Mr. Lafone's interest for one hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars. This large grazing undertaking necessi- 
tated the establishment of stores and artificers at Stanley, 
where the settlement has been so constantly improving, that 
at this time ships can be provisioned and provided in every 
way as cheap as at any of the ports in South America. In 
1869 the whole of the available land for grazing had passed 
into the hands of private individuals, with the exception of 
some portions of East Falkland. The company's headquar- 
ters are at Stanley, though their operations are naturally con- 
ducted in different portions of their domain. These islands 
have no native inhabitants. The title to their sovereignty 
(which is now vested in the British crown) has been subject 
to much dispute, and their history is romantically interesting. 
The Falklands were discovered in 1592 by John Davis, who 
sailed with Cavendish on his second voyage, but separated 
from him two months later. In 1764 the Frenchman, De 
Bougainville, arrived with an armament and settlers, and es- 
tablished them at Port Louis, a little to the north of Stanley. 
In 1765 the group was taken possession of, for England, by 
Commodore Byron, and an officer was sent out to begin their 
colonization. He commenced operations at Port Egmont, on 



140 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBICA. 

the northern shore of the west island. In 1770 a Spanish 
armament attacked the British colony, and obliged it to sur- 
render, but four years later Spain withdrew from the islands, 
and, as the French had previously decamped, left them quite 
uninhabited. The Falklands then remained unclaimed for 
nearly half a century, when they were formally taken pos- 
session of in the name and by the authority of the Argentine 
Republic. In 1833 Great Britian reasserted her sovereignty 
by sending a man-of-war to hoist the British flag in Port 
Louis. In the following year she appointed a governor, and 
sent out a small party as the nucleus of a future colony. 

The day on which the steamer was loading, the captain, 
the chief-engineer, and myself spent in shooting over the 
moors and along the rocky shores of the ocean to the south 
of Stanley. We found a great quantity of wild fowl — snipe, 
ducks, geese, penguins, and gulls — and we made a fabulous 
bag. The eggs of the penguin are esteemed a luxury. The 
oil is also exported, and is but little inferior to seal-oil. No 
wild animals of any kind are found save rabbits and rats. 

We left Stanley for Montevideo in a storm of wind and 
rain, so characteristic of this bleak, outlying station. Pass- 
ing Port William, we headed almost directly clue north for 
our destination, twelve hundred miles distant, with a strong 
favorable breeze on the quarter. Ours was a lonely track. 
Steamers bound for the Strait of Magellan pass between us 
and the continent, while sailing-ships bound around Cape 
Horn mostly pass to the eastward of our route. Upon the 
mainland of South America was Patagonia, a country a 
thousand miles in length, the Andes forming its western and 
the Atlantic its eastern border. It belongs to the Argentine 
Republic, and the chief town is Chupat, with a population of 
some two hundred souls. Patagonia is not the dreary and 
wholly barren country it was once supposed to be. The sur- 
face is a series of enormous terraces, stretching back to the 
Andes, and though the aspect of the open country is rather 
desolate, the valleys are covered with rich vegetation and 
many lakes and streams of clear water appear. Along the 



TEE FORLORN FALKLANDS. 141 

Bio Negro, wheat, maize, and pulse are cultivated. The 
estimated Indian population is twenty -five thousand. These 
people are tall and straight, with a reddish-brown complexion. 
They were named Patagonians by Magellan, on account of 
the supposed magnitude of their feet— patagon, in Spanish, 
signifying "large foot." Later travelers, however, have not 
observed that their feet were out of proportion to their large 
stature. They wander all over the country, subsisting upon 
wild animals, fish, and mushrooms. The Fuegians differ 
from the Patagonians in very many characteristics, to say 
nothing of the great physical and moral differences. The 
Patagonians are greatly addicted to drink, whereas the Fue- 
gians can seldom be induced to do more than taste any beer, 
wine, or spirits. The Indians of the western archipelagoes 
appear to live mostly in their canoes, and to depend upon 
fishing and shell-fish for a subsistence. The Indians of 
Patagonia five mostly at some distance inland, and depend 
upon hunting for their living. Such clothing as they wear 
is generally of deer-skin, while the Fuegian is better clad 
with seal-skin. In Patagonia guanacos, pumas, and foxes 
abound, as do condors, hawks, and ostriches. Fish are also 
plentiful along the coasts and rivers. The guanaco is a 
species of llama, killed with poisoned arrows, and fine skins 
may be bought in Punta Arenas. In Patagonia ostriches 
are not bred, as at the Cape of Good Hope, but run wild, 
and are rapidly becoming exterminated. It is not the genuine 
ostrich, but the rhea, an allied species, which is large, of gray 
color, and remarkable for its swiftness in running. The 
Indians chase them on horseback and catch them with iolas, 
two heavy balls upon the ends of a rope. Grasping one ball 
in the hand they gallop after the ostrich, and, whirling the 
other ball around their heads like a coil of lasso, they let go 
when near enough to the bird ; and the two balls, still re- 
volving in the air, will, if skillfully directed, wind around 
the long legs of the rhea and send him turning somersaults 
upon the pampa. The Indians then leap from the saddle, 
and, if they are out of meat, cut the throat of the bird and 



142 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

carry the carcass to camp ; but if they have no need of food, 
they pull the long plumes from his tail and wings, and let 
him go again to gather fresh plumage for the next season. 
At any of the trading-posts of Patagonia you can buy for six 
or eight dollars a rug that represents the breasts of twelve or 
fifteen young ostriches, and even that low price gives the 
trader a profit of many hundred per cent, as a few drinks of 
whisky makes the Indian susceptible to persuasion. If the 
Government of the Argentine Republic were to sell the mo- 
nopoly of trading in ostrich- feathers to a few fair-minded men, 
the birds would multiply enormously, and the beauty of their 
plumage be very much increased. The best plumes are w T orth 
forty or fifty dollars a pound in the market, and are much im- 
proved by the proper care of the bird. The pumas are of a 
brownish-yellow color, without spots, and next to the jaguar 
in size and fierceness. The condors, which are a species of 
vulture and the largest known bird of prey, occasionally 
measure as much as fourteen feet from tip to tip of wing. 

Increased attention is now being paid by the Argentines 
to their great southern territory. Up to the present all the 
credit, capital, and enterprise of their Government have been 
directed to the central and northern parts; but people are 
beginning to see that the great development of the future 
must be sought in the southern section. The day when im- 
migration and money seek new fields in the great Patagonian 
pampas, in the valleys of the Rio Negro and Rio Colorado, 
at the foot of the Andes and on the shores of the South 
Atlantic, railroads will stretch from ocean to ocean, and set- 
tlers from Europe will fill the plains and start a country that 
will eclipse in growth what we have seen in the center and 
north. There are already several schemes on foot to open 
the south. The transcendent scheme at present in favor is 
the railroad from Bahia Blanca to San Luis; that will be 
followed by railroads up the Colorado, Rio Negro, and Chu- 
pat Valleys, comprising an immense region that needs only 
the hand of man and the lever of money to become popu- 
lous, prosperous, and productive. 



CHAPTEE XYII. 

MONTEVIDEO — THE ATTRACTIVE. 

Still apparently on the ocean, we passed the mouth of 
the great River Plate, here one hundred and twenty miles 
in width, bnt with no greater average depth than fifty feet. 
It is almost unnecessary to say that the Rio de la Plata, or 
rather the Parana — for the name Rio de la Plata properly 
belongs to its broad estuary only — is one of the largest rivers 
in South America, after the Amazon. It received its name, 
" river of silver," from Sebastian Cabot — who visited here- 
about in 1520 — not because of the color of the water, but 
because of his having taken from the Indians great treasures 
of silver, and supposing that an abundance remained in the 
soil. The Plata continues fresh until only twelve miles 
above Montevideo, when it becomes somewhat brackish, 
though it is so long in fully mingling with the sea that the 
dark, yellow water which it brings down is often visible in 
the Atlantic for a distance of one hundred miles from its 
embouchure. The estuary of the River Plate, besides being 
comparatively shallow, has many shoals and rocks, the navi- 
gation generally extending along the northern and southern 
shores. We have to pass across the entire mouth, in a north- 
easterly direction, and then turn nearly due west toward 
Montevideo. Between this city and the opposite shore the 
river has narrowed less than one half — that is, from one hun- 
dred and twenty miles to fifty-two. After a very interesting 
voyage of twenty days from Valparaiso, we anchored just out- 
side the almost circular bay of Montevideo, nearly two miles in 
diameter, and opening toward the southwest. Three or four 
steamers and a dozen ships were lying near us. El Cerro, or 



144 AROUND AXD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the Mount, a distinguishing feature of the port, rises in the 
form of a smooth, isolated cone to a height of five hundred feet 
about half a mile from the rocky beach on the western side of 
the bay. It is covered with thin grass, and is crowned by a fort 
in which is a lighthouse, whose splendid revolving light is visi- 
ble twenty-five miles at sea. The city stands on gently rising 
ground on the east side of the bay, near its entrance, and oc- 
cupies a small peninsula and a large portion of the mainland. 
The sun set, and we remained on board until the next day. 

Upon going on deck in the morning I saw that there 
were about fifty vessels in the inner harbor, very many of 
them of large tonnage. Many small sailing-craft from the 
great rivers above were also entering port. To the left was 
the Cerro, and at its base were some great buildings of the 
saladeros or beef-salters. Directly opposite us the shore was 
thinly dotted with dwellings, but to the right lay the impos- 
ing city of Montevideo, a thick mass of irregular- shaped, 
flat-roofed houses, with many church-towers, domes, fire- 
lookouts, and chimneys. The place bore quite an Oriental 
air. The great square towers of the cathedral, with its tile- 
covered cupola, held the center of the view, rising high above 
the surrounding buildings. To the right was another very 
prominent object, the huge walls and cylindrical roof of the 
opera-house. Then there were pineapple-shaped spires, and 
the tops of many dwellings bore curious little square belve- 
deres. Colors, too, were not wanting. The green of the 
towers and domes, the yellow and red of the houses, the dark 
brown of the warehouses, and the white of the shipping near 
the shore, furnished a glittering abundance. To the extreme 
right were a fringe of trees and a slope of very green grass 
extending away off to the point where rose the tall gray stee- 
ple of a lighthouse. The situation of Montevideo, therefore, 
as it inclines gently back from the water, with the bright 
morning sun lighting up its various tints, and glancing from 
the tiled domes and tower-tops, makes altogether a very at- 
tractive picture. In general position and aspect it reminded 
me of Constantinople. 



MONTEVIDEO— THE ATTRACTIVE. 145 

At our foremast fluttered the Uruguay flag — blue aud 
white alternate stripes, with a gilded sun in the upper cor- 
ner nearest the flag-staff, where the stars are in the Ameri- 
can banner. I enter a small steam-tender and with my bag- 
gage start for the inner harbor, the custom-house, and the 
Hotel des Pyramides. On the way we pass a dozen men-of- 
war and small gunboats of various nationalities — English, 
French, Brazilian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Beyond these, 
and anchored in a sort of bight, are several hundred small 
trading-boats from up the rivers Parana, Paraguay, and Uru- 
guay. A great fleet of lighters is also to be seen. The cus- 
tom-houses are enormous three- story structures, occupying 
several blocks. I find the officials very courteous, and with- 
out delay hire some porters to carry my baggage, and follow 
them on foot to my hotel. 

Notwithstanding it is Sunday, all the retail shops are 
open, though comparatively few people are seen. The streets 
are nicely paved with oblong stone blocks, and both they 
and the sidewalks are broader than is usual in South Ameri- 
can cities. The houses are mostly two and three stories in 
height, but you see also some handsome residences of but a 
single story, and this notwithstanding the fact that Monte- 
video is not situated in an earthquake region. The city is 
lighted by gas-brackets, attached to the walls of the houses. 
One instantly notices the rows of gas-jets in semicircular 
pipes which at frequent intervals bridge the chief thorough- 
fares from house to house, and many of which are provided 
with vari-colored glass globes. These pipes are to assist in 
the illumination of the city on the anniversary of the great 
national holiday, the 18th of July, 1830 — it was upon this 
date that the Republic of Uruguay was founded. On ordi- 
nary festivals the illumination is paid for by equal assess- 
ments upon the houses thus joined ; but on this special po- 
litical celebration the Government pays for all the gas con- 
sumed. The finest street, with its stores and residences, and 
double line of tram-cars, is called the "Boulevard 18 
de Julio," and would be no discredit to London, Paris, or 
10 



146 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

New York. A very noticeable feature of the streets and 
public places is the absence of any prominent Uruguayan 
element in the populace. Every nation under the sun seems 
to be represented, but comparatively few native faces are 
met. In this respect it is very like Valparaiso, and most un- 
like La Paz and Quito. Fully one third, or about forty 
thousand, of the population of Montevideo are foreigners. 
Then, again, the appearance of the city, upon landing and 
traversing its thoroughfares, is decidedly strange. In fact, it 
strongly resembles the cities of northern Italy. My hotel I 
find on a corner of the Grand Plaza next the cathedral, 
which is a very large edifice, with two towers and a huge 
dome covered with green, blue, and yellow tiles. In one of 
the towers is a fine clock, which strikes the hours, halves, 
and quarters, and whose face is illumined at night. This 
clock has a very intelligible as well as agreeable method of 
announcing the time. Just before the hours, eight taps are 
made by twos in different keys, then follow the slow, solemn 
notes of the hour in a deeper and more mellow tone. The 
quarter hours are marked by two strokes, the halves by four, 
and the three-quarters by six. The facade of the cathedral 
is very plain, and the towers and dome are in a simple 
though impressive style of architecture. Inside there is 
nothing to especially distinguish this from other metropoli- 
tan churches in South America. Near the door, however, is 
a remarkably handsome statue of a former archbishop, in 
full canonicals, and in a kneeling posture, with the head 
partially raised in prayer. The Grand Plaza is large, but 
not surrounded by any fine buildings other than the cathe- 
dral and the Town Hall, a two-story stone affair built in a 
very substantial manner many years ago by the Spaniards. 
In the center of the Plaza is a superb fountain of many 
basins and much carving. Around the base are patriotic sen- 
timents and dates commemorative of the political history of 
the country. The paths radiating from the fountain are 
flanked with small acacias, or Egyptian thorn-trees, trimmed 
nearly to death. The remainder of the Plaza is covered 



MONTEVIDEO— THE ATTRACTIVE. 147 

with smooth, reddish gravel — as if the citizens had become 
disgusted with the attempt to make anything grow— all very- 
dreary to behold. A music pavilion is placed at one side. 
At another is a stand of European-looking hackney-coaches, 
but it is scarcely necessary to employ them, as the tram lines 
seem to gridiron the city. Besides, these lines are so cheap 
— from two to seven cents, according to the distance — as to 
be used by every one. The cars, I observed, had been made 
in New York. There are, of course, a number of other 
plazas in the city — one, that of the Independencia, being very 
large, and laying claim to the boast, not wholly peculiar to 
Montevideo, of being the finest square in South America. 
On one side is the Government Building, where are to be 
found the offices of the various cabinet ministers. This 
plaza was not in good order at the time of my visit, and I 
believe the plan was to lay it out in lawn and flowers. 

One afternoon I visited the Prado or Park, a great pleas- 
ure-ground for the people, at a short distance from the bor- 
ders of the city. The road to this park passes through Paso 
Molino, which is the most fashionable suburb of Montevideo. 
Here one may see the quintas, or country-houses, of the 
wealthy officials and merchants, single-story buildings of the 
quaintest architecture — one of them resembles a great burial 
vault more than anything else — embowered in gardens of 
fruit-trees and beautiful flowers, with artificial concomitants 
of statues, fountains, marble settees, and gravel walks. In 
the Prado were many fine trees from different zones. Espe- 
cially noticeable, from their number and size, were the euca- 
lypti. In one place was a restaurant, in others were beer and 
billiard rooms, shooting-galleries, and all sorts of out-door 
games for youths. In a grove, with seats which were half 
filled with people, the music of the Basques (who are largely 
represented in the population of Montevideo), upon flageolet 
and drum, was in progress, and frequently these people per- 
form here their national dance, which consists largely of post- 
uring. Their music is plaintive and sentimental in charac- 
ter. On festivals this park is crowded with people from the 



143 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

city, who bring provisions, arid during a whole day camp in 
true Gypsy style. I noticed a few elegant carriages of for- 
eign ownership, with liveried coachmen and footmen, but the 
popular mode for taking air and exercise, especially for gen- 
tlemen, appeared to be upon horseback. 

In the evening I weut to the opera-house, a large build- 
ing, with a portico and a pair of oval wings of very imposing 
effect, the whole occupying an entire square. One of the 
wings is devoted to a large billiard and liquor saloon, while 
the other contains the National Museum. There was a great 
red light burning at the apex of the roof, to indicate that 
opera would be given that night, the light being omitted 
when there is no opera. Inside, on the second floor, is a fine 
large foyer, with tables and chairs for those who wish to sit 
and smoke and drink. The auditorium is rather handsome, 
quite an oval in shape, and with its five tiers of boxes — like 
La Scala at Milan — ornamented in white, green, red, and 
gold. The fourth circle is exclusively reserved for women. 
This is a peculiar feature of the large theatres in Montevideo, 
as well as in all South American capitals, and in Spain. No 
man, however high his station, is ever allowed to enter here. 
The ladies are escorted to the theatre by their fathers or 
brothers, who leave them at the door, and either take seats in 
another part of the house, or go away to spend the evening 
as they like, returning at the close of the performance to 
escort the ladies home. The ladies being pretty and gayly 
dressed, this gallery, when filled, as it generally is, presents 
a very beautiful spectacle. The men are rigorously excluded 
from the charmed circle, but no regulation can control the 
flashing eyes of the occupants of the gallery, and the flirta- 
tions which are carried on with the gentlemen in other parts 
of the house are constant. They never get beyond the point 
of meeting eyes, however, for at the door the lady is met by 
her escort and hurried to her home, and she gets no chance 
to extend the flirtation by means of conversation. To the 
fifth circle men only are admitted. In the parquette the 
seats were three dollars each. The house has a seating ca- 



MONTEVIDEO— TEE ATTRACTIVE. 149 

pacity of four thousand, and was well filled. The ladies almost 
all wore showy hats, with colored silk dresses, a few only 
were clothed in black, and were hatless. While speaking of 
the Montevideo ladies, I might mention, for the benefit of 
my American lady readers, that short dresses are worn in the 
streets — granting a liberal display of very small and high- 
heeled French boots — with hats and without cloaks, and that 
the fashion seems to run altogether to the bustle, accompanied 
with great puffs calculated to make a Japanese girl die of 
envy. (It is unnecessary to explain that this very ugly cus- 
tom, this actual deformation of the " human form divine," is 
an exaggerated adaptation from the Japanese.) I have fre- 
quently seen these posterior appendages projecting quite two 
feet from the body, and have wondered they were not util- 
ized as bundle or wrap carriers. Every country, however, 
has its own standard of taste and fashion. In Valparaiso 
and Santiago it is the spray of feathers and top-knot of 
artificial vegetation which marks the best society ; in Mon- 
tevideo it is the bustle, which, by its greater or lesser super- 
ficial area, distinguishes the patrician from the plebeian. The 
graceful lace mantilla, with the dignified black embroidered 
crape or silk shawl, is all unknown, the most extravagant 
Trench fashions having taken its place. The men show no 
better taste. Just at this period it is a question whether 
they are endeavoring to trim their shoes or their beards to 
the sharpest point. To return to the opera : it was a light, 
Offenbachian affair, sung by a Spanish company, accom- 
panied by an orchestra of thirty instruments. I regret that I 
am not able to praise any of the vocal or instrumental per- 
formers. As I passed out, a curious lattice-covered box 
attracted my attention. This, I was informed, was set apart 
for the use of persons in mourning, who might wish perhaps 
to hear an opera, without being seen at such a performance 
under such conditions. It is a custom which, it seems to me 
would be in great danger of being abused. As I stood by 
the door to see the " quality " pass, General Santos, then Pres- 
ident of the Republic, was pointed out to me — a very small, 



150 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

thin man,, with a bright, intelligent face, dressed in plain civil- 
ian clothes, and followed by an enormous negro orderly in full 
uniform. I was told that the general was probably accom- 
panied by half a dozen detectives, for the demon of assassina- 
tion always hovers over the South American republics. 

Sitting in my room, reading and resting during the fol- 
lowing afternoon, I hear the sound of martial music, and, 
opening one of the French windows and stepping out into 
the little balcony, I see a regiment of Uruguayan soldiers 
pass through the street. First came a company of buglers, 
then a drum-corps, then a large brass band playing a lively 
quickstep, then the colonel and mounted staff, and then six- 
teen companies of twelve front and double rank. The men 
did not have a very martial bearing, though they marched 
well, and performed in tolerable fashion the few evolutions 
requisite to pass street obstructions. Their uniform was 
rather peculiar. It consisted of a red forage-cap, a sort of 
blue ulster descending to about six inches above the ground, 
ornamented and fastened with brass buttons, enormous baggy 
trousers of white canvas, and white canvas gaiters. Their 
accoutrements consisted of rifles, with sword-bayonets, knap- 
sacks, blankets, and tin plates. The officers wore a neat uni- 
form of dark cloth, similar to that used by the engineers of 
the British army. The regimental colors were of fine silk, 
and very pretty. The mounted officers had beautiful horses, 
and splendid saddles with silver stirrups. The " rank and 
file " were rather undersized, and a more wild, brutal, and 
savage-looking set of men I have rarely seen. The explana- 
tion is that the Uruguayan army is very largely recruited 
from the prisons and penitentiaries, and that under certain 
conditions, after having passed a specified length of time in 
jail, a criminal is allowed to serve out in the army the re- 
mainder of his term. It may be that the discipline of the 
army is quite as wholesome as that of the jail, but it seems 
to me a much lighter form of punishment, inasmuch as the 
restriction is neither solitary nor close, and the odium of 
being branded as a criminal among criminals is quite omitted. 




Situation of the Argentine Republic in South America. 



^> 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 

At six o'clock in the evening I left Montevideo for Bue- 
nos Ayres, one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, in a 
steamer (of some five hundred-odd tons burden) of a line 
which dispatches a boat every day of the week, save Friday 
and Saturday. It is a double-deck, side-wheel, two-pipe ves- 
sel, and seems intended to carry only passengers and their 
personal baggage. We were about fifty, representing a fifth 
as many nationalities. The dinner was most elaborate — at 
least a dozen courses, with three kinds of wine. Living in 
Montevideo is not only cheap but good. At the hotel at 
which I stayed, one of the best though not the largest in the 
city, I paid two dollars and a half per day, and this charge 
included two kinds of wine, Spanish and French. The 
rooms were well furnished and admirably kept, the table was 
bounteously supplied, and the cooking was either French or 
Italian, there being ordinarily but little difference in these 
systems. A dozen great steamers lay in the offing, as we 
passed out and headed toward the west. Montevideo is a 
place of great commercial activity. I noticed, in an evening 
newspaper, that five steamers were to sail and four expected 
to arrive that day. A heavy northerly storm of wind, rain, 
thunder, and lightning, prevailed throughout the night. 
This " Norte," as it is called, is a very depressing, unwhole- 
some sort of wind, whereas the " Pampero," or wind from 
the great open plains, which generally blows, is very cool, 
bracing, and healthy. Hence the title — Buenos Ayres, good 
aw. 



152 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

At daylight we had reached the roadstead, and could 
fairly see the city through the gloom of fog and rain. The 
water was of a light browD, thick and dirty-looking. There 
were at least fifty ships at anchor, scattered over a very great 
extent of the river. Near the city, where we anchored, were 
a few steamers and vessels employed in the great up-country 
river navigation. So shallow is the Plata, opposite Buenos 
Ayres, that occasionally, when it is especially low, the sail- 
boats, in landing passengers from the steamers, are not able 
to reach the piers, and consequently empty their human 
freight into carts, which, in turn, bring them across the flats 
to the shore. Cargo from small river- vessels is very often 
landed in this way, and I have seen a dozen carts, quite half 
a mile from shore, with the water no higher than their axle- 
trees. The odd appearance of these carts, with their huge 
wheels, circular roofs, and tandem teams, driving about 
among the shipping in the roadstead, may be imagined. In 
the distance, to the southwest of our anchorage, were dimly 
seen a great mass of masts, and yards, and streaming pen- 
nants. These belonged to vessels in the Uiachuelo River, a 
small stream, emptying into the Plata, which serves as a 
sort of inner harbor to the city. Buenos Ayres, from the 
river, very much resembles Montevideo in its general aspect ; 
it is like an Italian city. It is, however, built upon more 
level ground than Montevideo, and its streets all lie exactly 
at right angles to each other, and the general direction of the 
blocks is almost toward the cardinal points of the compass. 
At the northern part of the city one sees many tall chimneys 
and large factories ; and beyond, farther to the east, is a long 
circling; fringe of trees. In the center and southern section 
rise above the three and four story houses, with their arcades 
and belvederes, many peak- topped towers, many domes of 
churches, many spires of various designs and for various pur- 
poses. This is almost an Oriental view ; but as I look again 
a protracted railway-train rushes along the bank and dispels 
this charming chimera. Three long iron piers project into 
the river, and at the center of these I am landed from a little 



THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 153 

Italian felucca, into which I had with the greatest difficulty, 
and some danger (owing to the high sea and strong tide), 
thrown first my baggage and then myself. At the custom- 
house the inspection is over in a moment, and I follow por- 
ters with my baggage to the " Hotel Provence," - only two 
blocks distant. I find it to be a good hostelry, kept in the 
French style, as I had inferred from its name. 

The streets and sidewalks of Buenos Ayres are all narrow, 
badly paved, and dirty — in these respects differing from the 
neighboring capital of Uruguay. They have a curious meth- 
od of naming the streets in Buenos Ayres. A street about 
the center of the city, running east and west, forms a divid- 
ing line from which the streets running north and south take 
different names, and from which the numbers also begin and 
run in opposite directions. The east and west streets have 
but a single name. Among the streets I notice the name 
" United States " ; and in Montevideo there is one called 
" New York." The names of no other foreign countries and 
cities being thus represented, we have a right, I suppose, to 
feel highly complimented. There seem to be few hand- 
some public buildings in Buenos Ayres. It is a great com- 
mercial mart, and its citizens seem wholly given to business. 
The number of stores and the variety and elegance of the 
goods displayed are astonishing. The retail shops of the 
street called Florida have a true Parisian splendor. Many 
of them are small, and devoted to a special product or arti- 
cle for which you would think there would be sufficient de- 
mand only in a large city like Paris or Yienna. On the 
other hand, entire streets, as with us at home, are sometimes 
devoted to certain classes of business. Thus, the first street 
running along the river is monopolized by the customs and 
port offices, and stores connected with shipping interests. 
The next may be said to be the street of banks, brokers, and 
insurance companies. Here is situated the Exchange, a fine 
large building erected in 1883, in which the Argentine "bulls 
and bears " wrangle in just the same fashion as their brother 
fauna do in New York or London. The next street is that 



154 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

of stationers and lawyers. Then come the shops of the 
Florida, which street is also the afternoon resort of beauty 
and fashion. Next to Florida is Maypu, the street of whole- 
sale merchants, and then Esmeraldas, where are many thea- 
tres, music-halls, skating-rinks, shooting-galleries, ball-rooms, 
and beer-gardens. Buenos Ayres is even more of a cosmo- 
politan city than Montevideo, about half of its population 
being Europeans by birth. You hear French, German, Ital- 
ian, and English spoken almost as much as Spanish. Opera- 
houses, hotels, cafes, restaurants, and clubs of different na- 
tionalities vie with each other. The " Stranger's Guide " to 
Buenos Ayres is published in four languages. The popula- 
tion is put down at four hundred thousand, thus making it 
the largest city in the southern hemisphere, Kio Janeiro 
standing second. 

The principal public square — the Plaza de la Victoria — 
is about eight acres in extent, and is situated near the center 
of the eastern edge of the city, just back of the custom- 
house. It contains two monuments, one an equestrian statue 
of General San Martin, the illustrious colleague of Bolivar in 
the "War of Independence, and the other a sort of pyramid of 
liberty, made of brick and stucco, and erected in remem- 
brance of the heroes of the same conflict. The latter is a very 
tawdry, cheap-looking affair, without any redeeming archi- 
tectural features. A bronze monument was ordered, as far 
back as 1826, to replace this one, but has not yet made its ap- 
pearance. On the north side of this plaza are the cathedral, 
the archbishop's palace, and the opera-house. The cathedral 
has a portico, with a symbolical pediment, and a blue tile- 
covered cupola. On the facade are huge bosses of white and 
gold wood-work, displaying ecclesiastical crooks, mitres, 
scarfs, and keys. The interior contains nothing extraordi- 
nary, save a great marble and bronze monument in one of 
the chapels, erected in 1880 to the memory of General San 
Martin. It is in the form of a bronze sarcophagus, reared 
upon a lofty marble pedestal of four different colors. The 
opera-house exteriorly is not imposing, while interiorly it is 



TEE METROPOLIS OF TEE RIVER PLATE. 155 

very like that at Montevideo. On the east side of the Vic- 
toria Plaza is a huge two-story and Mansard-roof building — 
about the only really handsome building in Buenos Ayres — 
which contains in one wing the government-house, in the 
other the post-office, while in the center is the grand entrance 
to the custom-house. It is wholly a modern style of building. 
On the south side is Congress Hall, and the rest of this street 
is filled with very inferior one and two story shops, which 
spoil the general effect of the square. On the remaining 
side, the west, are the Town Hall and police department. 
The Town Hall has rather a fine lofty clock-tower ; of the 
police headquarters nothing favorable can be said. While 
criticising so harshly the public buildings of so large and 
wealthy a city, I ought to mention that while Buenos Ayres 
is to remain the capital of the nation, the capital of the prov- 
ince of the same name has been removed to La Plata, a city 
forty miles to the southeast, where a number of governmental 
buildings, in the most lavish style of modern architecture, 
are in progress of erection. 

The Recoleta, or public cemetery, is at the northern ex- 
tremity of the city. There is an elaborate gateway prefaced 
by some pretty gardens, but inside are only a few cypress- 
trees, and monuments set in rectangular rows and so close 
together that the place has quite the look of a stone-cutter's 
display-yard. Why the citizens of Buenos Ayres could not 
take thrice the amount of land, and lay it out with trees 
and lawns and flowers, and neat gravel walks, I can not com- 
prehend. Such a style of graveyard as our Greenwood, or 
Cypress Hills, or Woodlawn, does not exist in all South 
America. The people of Buenos Ayres, unlike those of 
Montevideo and the west coast, do not employ mural burial 
to any extent. Here the popular style of interment is either 
in vaults below the surface, or in marble tombs just above it. 
In either case there is generally a more or less ornamental 
structure, fitted up with a miniature altar, and filled with 
wreaths, inscriptions, cards, and other touching tokens. The 
door is usually of latticed iron, and the coffins may plainly 



156 ABOUND AN~D ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

be seen lying upon iron gratings at each side, or below, in a 
vault. 

Many fine country residences are seen on the outskirts of 
Buenos Ayres. One that I visited, in the eastern part of the 
city, belongs to a wealthy native merchant. The house is a very 
large one, sumptuously furnished, and from its lofty tower a 
widely extended view of city, country, and river may be ob- 
tained. The grounds fill an entire and very large square, 
and are surrounded by a high brick wall. Here are gardens 
worthy of Versailles or Fontainebleau. Nature and art are 
combined to the best effect. Both temperate and semi-tropic 
zones are represented, and grottoes, summer-houses, marble 
statues, urns, fountains, arbors, and conservatories abound. 
In one place is a splendid avenue lined with the ever-pict- 
uresque cocoa palm. At another spot a huge old pine-tree 
supports near its crown a pretty belvidere, reached by a 
spiral staircase. There are rich orchards, attractive flower- 
beds, great clumps of shrubbery, velvety lawns, and rare 
graperies. Everywhere run paths covered with beautiful 
pink and white shells. It costs the proprietor one hundred 
thousand dollars a year to keep this magnificent place in 
order. In returning to the hotel I passed two banking build- 
ings — the Banco Hipotecario and the Banco Provincial — 
which are as handsome and appropriate samples of what such 
edifices may be as any European or American city can show. 
They are of brick and plaster, two stories in height, with 
central towers and imposing facades. Inside, the furnishing 
and upholstery are of the most luxurious description. Mar- 
ble, bronze, tiles, stained glass, mahogany, and frescoes have 
been everywhere lavishly employed. These buildings cost 
about one million five hundred thousand dollars apiece. 

There are a number of theatres in Buenos Ayres, all of 
them quite large, with from three to five tiers of boxes. At 
one of them I saw Ambroise Thomas's " Mignon " given in 
good style by a French lyric company ; in another a comedy 
by a Spanish dramatic troupe ; in a third Alexandre Dumas' s 
drama of "Denise" by an Italian company, the " star " of 



THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 157 

which was a brother of the famous tragedian Ernesto Rossi ; 
and in a fourth a grand symphony concert, with an orches- 
tra of seventy " professionals," as the bills styled the musi- 
cians. The orchestra were seated upon an ample stage, and 
gave, with good expression, selections from Massenet, Saint- 
Saens, Rameau, "Wagner, "Weber, and Liszt, together with an 
overture and a march of mediocre merit by the band-leader. 
The theatres have an average seating capacity of three thou- 
sand ; while the Politeano Argentino, constructed in such a 
manner as to serve for a circus as well as theatre, will hold 
nearly five thousand persons. But Buenos Ayres is to have 
a still larger theatre, and at a cost of three million dollars. 
It is to cover thirteen thousand square metres, and will accom- 
modate six thousand spectators. Its stage is to be larger than 
that of La Scala. 

Of course, I paid a visit to the new capital of the prov- 
ince of Buenos Ayres, La Plata, forty miles from the city, 
and near the great river, with which it is to be connected by 
a ship-canal. I went by a good railway, over a perfectly flat 
and well-cultivated country, a great part of the distance in 
full view of the river. The cars were of the American pat- 
tern, with the exception that there was a central partition in 
each car. A door in every partition, however, permitted con- 
tinuous communication throughout the train. The railway- 
station at La Plata is an enormous three-story structure, with 
a great Mansard-roof. The new city is laid out in chess- 
board fashion, though it is also provided with boulevards 
diagonally cutting through it from angle to angle, and with 
several plazas and a large park. It was only founded three 
years before my visit, but already boasted a population of 
thirty-five thousand. The public buildings — few of which 
were then completed — are on a very grandiose scale, three 
stories in height, elaborately ornamented, and standing in 
great gardens surrounded by lofty iron railings. One finds 
there all the public buildings necessary for a great munici- 
pality, such as a government palace, palace of justice, of 
the police, a national bank, a jail, library, museum, astro- 



158 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

nomical and meteorological observatory, and splendid resi- 
dences for the ministers and officers of the government. 
The museum is at present located in the great bank building. 
It contains a complete collection of Patagonian ethnography, 
and a very fine assortment of South American osteology. 
The public buildings of La Plata, when completed, will do 
honor to any capital, though I ought to add that they are all 
of brick and stucco, while the greater number of the dwell- 
ings are of wood. The port of the new city will cost, when 
finished, fifteen million dollars, and will be much more serv- 
iceable than anything near Buenos Ayres. 

The pampas, or plain regions of the Argentine Republic, 
embrace an area nearly two thousand miles in length and 
five hundred in width. They rise from the east almost im- 
perceptibly, in a series of terraces, till one reaches the slopes 
of the Andes. It is known that the sea was once over all 
this part of the continent ; for under the surface soil there 
are gravel and great beds of shells of the same species now 
found in the Atlantic, mixed with the bones of quadrupeds 
now extinct, but of the same type as those, of much less size, 
at present existing. These pampas are covered with coarse 
grass, interspersed with desert patches. They support, as is 
well known, enormous herds of wild cattle and horses. 
Lately immense tracts of pasture are being converted into 
farm-land, and, while a few years ago not sufficient wheat was 
raised to supply the home market, the exports of this cereal 
in 1887 amounted to seven million bushels. The number of 
reapers imported into the republic the same year was fifteen 
hundred. The country being so largely a plain, railways are 
cheaply constructed. There are now over seven thousand 
miles running. The longest straight reach of railway in the 
world is on the new Argentine Pacific Railway, from Buenos 
Ayres to the foot of the Andes. For a distance of two hun- 
dred and eleven miles the line is laid without a curve. The 
level nature of the country will be evident from the fact 
that there is neither a cutting nor an embankment deeper or 
higher than three feet. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 

T0WAKD THE HEAKT OF THE CONTINENT. 

Among many wonders of nature in the Argentine Re- 
public, I saw an especially interesting geological phenome- 
non. It was a great roeking-stone — perhaps the largest in 
the world — three miles from Tandil, a small village, which 
may be reached by railway, two hundred and fifty miles 
south of Buenos Ayres. The giant, mushroom-shaped quartz 
bowlder stands upon the summit of some picturesque hills, 
perhaps a thousand feet in height. It weighs over seven 
hundred tons, and is so nicely poised that it rocks in the 
wind, and may be made to crack a walnut. Yet this bowl- 
der is so firm that one of the old dictators, Bosas by name, 
once harnessed a thousand horses to it, and was unable to dis- 
place it. There are, of course, many such rocking-stones 
scattered about the world, though I know of none nearly so 
large. The smaller ones are not less interesting. In New 
York State are two, one near the town of Monticello, of about 
forty tons, and the other in Salem, of over eighty tons. The 
former is nearly as round as an orange, and so nicely bal- 
anced upon a table of stone that a child, by pushing against 
either of two sides, can rock it back and forth; yet the 
strength of a hundred men without levers or other appli- 
ances, would be insufficient to dislodge it from its position. 
Its body is composed of a somewhat loose and soft sandstone, 
in which are imbedded numberless round and flinty pebbles, 
of a diamond-like hardness. In the valley where it is situ- 
ated it is the solitary specimen of its class. Whence came 
this wanderer, and how ? The other great rock stands two 



160 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

feet from the ground, on stilts composed of three small 
pointed rocks of a different formation, and though easily 
moved to and fro, by the application of a man's muscular 
strength, can not be overturned or removed from its base. 
The attempt was vainly made by means of two hundred oxen 
yoked together and hitched to its massy bulk. All these 
bowlders were undoubtedly so placed by glacial action — that 
is, by the melting of the ice ; or else the glaciers of ages ago, 
having tossed these rocks about, like playthings, have finally 
deposited them in the extraordinary positions in which we 
now find them. 

On October 18th I left Buenos Ayres for Asuncion, the 
capital of Paraguay, in a Brazilian steamer of about one 
thousand tons burden. It was one of a line which dispatches 
one steamer a month to Asuncion, and thence to Curumba, 
nineteen hundred and eighty-six miles, where it connects with 
a smaller steamer for Cuyaba, twenty-five hundred and three 
miles, the capital of Matto-Grosso, a large and rich province 
of Brazil. Asuncion is eleven hundred and fifteen miles 
from Buenos Ayres, by the rivers Parana, and Paraguay. 
My steamer was named the Rio Apa, after the river which 
forms the boundary between Paraguay and Brazil on the 
north. It was a paddle-wheel vessel, drawing but eight feet 
of water, and had good accommodation for first-class passen- 
gers, though the table was not all that might be desired. 
We had on board about twenty cabin passengers, among them 
the Brazilian President of Matto-Grosso, the commander of 
the troops there, a deputy from that province to Rio Janeiro, 
and several merchants, all bound for Curumba or Cuyabd. 
The President had been recently elected to this distant post, 
a change of ministry having taken place in Brazil. Our first 
stop was at Rosario, a city of about forty-five thousand in- 
habitants, situated on the west bank, and about sixty feet 
above the river. It consists, for the most part, of single- 
story houses, and is laid out at precise right angles. Tram- 
ways run in every direction. In the river, abreast of the 
city, were anchored several good-sized steamers, and along 



TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 161 

the bank and at snort piers were more steamers and many- 
sailing-vessels. The prevailing style of the river- vessels ap- 
pears to be a sort of brigantine, with light spars, and 
of these there is a very great number. With their line 
lines, tall, raking masts, white hulks, and great spread of can- 
vas, they resemble yachts more than merchantmen. When 
sailing on the wind, with four jibs, three square sails, and 
three try-sails set, they present a very trim and pretty ap- 
pearance. I go on shore and walk through the principal 
streets. The wharves are covered with merchandise, which 
is being transported to town in great two-wheeled carts. 
These are drawn, in a most primitive fashion, by a single 
horse which is not harnessed by means of traces and shafts, 
but is simply secured by his girth to a great pole. He car- 
ries a sort of bag saddle, with one very long stirrup, the 
rider half facing the cart, and the horse, especially in start- 
ing, getting a strong side pull. I did not think that a horse 
could draw half so great a load in this manner as by a collar, 
but was surprised to find I had mistaken. It is much se- 
verer work, however, and wears the animal out much earlier. 
In the center of the Grand Plaza is a lofty marble shaft, 
with a figure of Victory atop, and at the base four life-size 
statues of Argentine heroes — soldiers and statesmen. It was 
erected in 1883, and is a fine piece of work from an artistic 
standpoint. The plaza is adorned with a double row of aca- 
cias. 

Leaving Eosario, we find the banks of the river altogether 
uninteresting, being generally low upon the eastern side, and 
with bluffs, sometimes a hundred feet high, upon the west- 
ern. The river averages two miles in width, with a current 
of about four miles an hour. The channel is very tortuous. 
First we skirt one bank, and then the opposite, frequently- 
approaching within thirty feet of the shore. Notwithstand- 
ing this, we go at full speed all night, except when the 
weather is thick or foggy, when we anchor. Our speed is 
about ten knots an hour. The river contains many small isl- 
ands covered with tall grass and green shrubbery. On the 
11 



162 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

banks poplars and willows are often to be seen, and occa- 
sionally peach and other fruit trees, with great farm-houses 
in the distance. "We next stopped at the port of Parana, the 
city lying upon a high bluff, about two miles distant, and 
being reached by tramway. At the port, where we received 
on board some flour and biscuit, were only the custom- 
house, a hotel, and the station of the tram-cars. A score of 
sailing-vessels were loading or discharging at the wharves, 
and a large steamer was just leaving for Buenos Ayres. As 
we went on, the province of Santa Fe was soon upon our 
left. This contains a great number of agricultural colonies, 
some of them reaching to the river-bank. The colonists are 
mostly Germans and Swiss, while still farther to the north- 
west are many Italians. The Argentine Republic receives 
more immigrants from Europe than all the other South 
American countries. Lately the rate of immigration has 
been two hundred thousand annually. I may add that this 
enterprising republic has doubled its commerce in live years 
and its wealth in ten. Its great vitality and growth lie in 
the fertility and cheapness of the soil and in the multiplica- 
tion of numbers, both of human beings and the lower ani- 
mals. 

The next day we reached the town of Goya, six hundred 
and seventy-six miles from Buenos Ayres. The weather was 
becoming quite warm and the grass, shrubs, and willows were 
rapidly giving place to ferns, oranges, wild sugar-cane, and 
palms, as we approached the tropics. The trees were in- 
creasing in size and in density of foliage, and there was also 
a good deal of line grass-land for cattle. The smooth bluffs 
showed very nicely the geological strata, exactly as they were 
formed ages ago when the Atlantic swept over all this re- 
gion, depositing its sediment, layer upon layer, as far as the 
Andes. Alligators are sometimes seen basking on the sandy 
beaches, half hidden among the rushes. Opposite Goya is 
an immense district of the Argentine Republic, styled the 
Gran Chaco. This is now beginning to be settled, though 
its northern parts are a wilderness full of savage Indians. 



TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 163 

Corrientes, eight hundred and thirty-two miles, was one of 
our next stops. Vessels drawing as much as ten feet can go 
up thus far. Four days from Buenos Ay res we entered the 
Paraguay, a river about a mile in width, with higher and 
drier banks than the Parana, though with quite as tortuous 
a channel. Near the mouth of the great river Vermejo, 
which comes into the Paraguay from Bolivia, was an Argen- 
tine sub-prefecture of police, where was stationed a battalion 
of troops, with a small gunboat anchored near by. Upon 
the right we now had the Republic of Paraguay. Very many 
camelotes, or floating islands of water-plants, passed us, voy- 
aging slowly down the stream. The banks are being con- 
stantly undermined and broken off by the current and wind 
— and thus are launched the camelotes. The country be- 
comes more undulating, and is covered with forest or swamp. 
The heat is very great during the day, the mosquitoes very 
annoying during the night. The alligators increase in 
number, and are supplemented by carpinchos, or river-hogs. 
About noon on the 24th, on suddenly turning a bend in 
the river, I saw before me the city of Asuncion, the capital 
of Paraguay, a plain town of single-story buildings, the only 
conspicuous edifice being the palace of Lopez (the famous 
Paraguayan general and President), torn with shot and shell 
just as it was left by the Brazilian fleet fifteen years before. 
We passed some batteries and the arsenal, and saw behind, 
them a large hospital. Abreast of the city was a large, 
double-turreted Brazilian ironclad, whose sailors, as we came 
to anchor, manned her yards and cheered out of compliment 
to the President of Matto-Grosso, whom we had on board. 
There were but two or three vessels, save a dozen very small 
craft, in the roadstead or large sort of bay connecting with 
the river. The Paraguay itself seemed to be about a mile 
wide, the opposite shores being low and level, and consisting 
mostly of meadow-land. To the north beautiful green hills 
stretched away, ridge behind ridge ; to the south, upon a 
prominent knoll, was a cemetery. The city before us bore a 
most woe- begone aspect, the buildings seemed all dilapidated 



164 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

or half-built, and scarcely any people appeared. Evidently 
Asuncion has not revived since the late terrible war. Our 
anchor was dropped just six days from the time of leaving 
Buenos Ayres. As I landed upon one of the three short 
piers, a shower of tropical violence descended, and the streets 
were at once turned into rivers. The palace of Lopez, which 
commands an extensive view, is in a very good style of archi- 
tecture, three stories in height, with a lofty square tower and 
grand pillared entrance. The lower story is of cut stone, the 
two upper of stuccoed brick. It has apparently been allowed 
to go altogether to decay. The walls are blackened, no sashes 
fill the window openings, and in one quite a large bush is 
vigorously growing. In front of the palace, and almost 
touching it, are rows of miserable mud-plastered and grass- 
thatched huts — a suggestive contrast indeed. I had no diffi- 
culty with the custom-house officials, and found quarters 
at the " Hotel Hispano- Americano," a grandiose structure 
which was formerly a palace belonging to the Lopez family, 
but which the sudden changes of fortune hereabout have now 
turned into a public-house. There are two stories, each of 
great height. There is a very imposing entrance, with mar- 
ble staircases, right and left, and a vestibule and court-yard 
full of great round pillars. The stucco-work embraces sym- 
bols of war, peace, music, art and literature, busts, elaborate 
scrolls and flowers, the whole painted a delicate pink and 
green upon a white ground. In the center of the tile-paved 
court is a well, with a beautiful coping cut from a single block 
of marble. Here also are marble tables, on which cooling 
refreshments are served. The corridors are hung with huge 
octagonal lamps of stained glass. Down-stairs are bar and 
billiard rooms, and above are tile-floored dwelling-rooms, 
which are separated by partitions that do not reach the ceil- 
ing by as much as four feet. This gives you the benefit, not 
only of your own share of air, but also of other people's con- 
versation, in various keys and unlimited quantities. 

The streets of Asuncion are badly paved with huge blocks 
of stone, and are a foot deep either with sand or mud, accord- 



TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 165 

ing to the season. Four horses are necessary to draw even 
a small, two-wheeled cart with a light load. The sidewalks 
are very narrow and of brick. They strive to keep the level, 
and this makes steps frequently necessary at the corner cross- 
ings. The houses are painted white, yellow, green, or pink, 
which always makes a street scene a picturesque one. All 
the windows have heavy iron gratings and green jalousies. 
The ground upon which the city is built is not only undu- 
lating, but sweeps quite steeply back toward the east. This 
topography necessitates a series of stone terraces in many of 
the streets. The city is laid out in chess-board fashion, with 
an avenue in the center, called Calle Independencia Nacional, 
running from east to west, from which, as in Buenos Ayres, 
the numbers of the houses divergingly increase, and each 
street running north and south has two names. The city is 
poorly lighted by kerosene-lamps, which are bracketed upon 
the houses. A tramway extends from the landing-place up 
through two of the principal streets and out to the northern 
suburbs. The telephone is largely used, the posts for the 
wires being the trunks of palm-trees, which will last thirty 
years or more. A telegraph connects Asuncion with Buenos 
Ayres, as do also two lines of weekly and two of monthly 
steamers. There are three daily newspapers published in 
Asuncion, at ten cents a copy. Of the city in general it 
may be said that it presents a semi-Oriental and semi-mediae- 
val appearance. Palms and bananas and other tropical trees 
and various flowers abound. But you meet few people in 
the grass-grown streets, and these are mostly women— the 
male population having been nearly annihilated in the disas- 
trous war with Brazil, which lasted five years, and terminated 
in 1870. The census shows that the women actually out- 
number the men six to one. It is like a deserted city, deso- 
late, noiseless, and sad. Yet it must rise again ; its situation is 
good, the surrounding country is fertile and beautiful, and 
the climate is healthy and enjoyable. The public buildings 
are few and not specially noteworthy, except perhaps the 
oldest. I have already .spoken of the palace of Lopez. The 



166 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

town-hall is a two-story, arched, and corridored building, con- 
taining the halls of Congress and the offices of the President 
and ministers. The custom-house, without being an espe- 
cially fine building, is well adapted to its purpose, and the 
same may be said of the railway-station of the only railway 
in Paraguay, that which runs to the town of Paraguari, 
about fifty miles to the eastward. Lopez intended to have 
built a handsome large opera-house of modern style, which 
should occupy an entire square ; but it never got beyond the 
first story, as it now stands, a melancholy ruin. 

I attended mass one morning at the cathedral, a very 
large old edifice, with two towers. The altar was ablaze 
with candles, arranged in ornamental designs, giving it 
somewhat the appearance of a set piece of fire-works. A 
large congregation was present, and among them were a few 
Sisters of Charity and two schools of children under their 
charge, the one of girls dressed all in white with white veils 
and shoes, the other of barefooted girls with blue veils. The 
greater part of the congregation, however, consisted of na- 
tive women in white or gay-colored cambric dresses, with 
black-crape mantillas, worn, as usual, over the head. These 
were all barefooted, and generally carried fans. Besides 
these were a few ladies decked in ultra-French style, with 
enormous plumed hats, black-silk dresses, and high-heeled 
slippers. As usual, in South American churches, the men 
were conspicuous by their absence. An adjoining little gar- 
den contains the only monument in Asuncion, a tall shaft of 
brick and stucco, surmounted by a figure of Liberty. On the 
pedestal are the following four historical inscriptions : Foun- 
dation of Paraguay, 15 August, 1536 — First cry for Liberty, 
14 May, 1811 — Declaration of National Independence, 25 
December, 1842 — Declaration of the National Constitution, 
25 November, 1870. 



CHAPTER XX. 

A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 

The largest market of the city occupies an entire square. 
The dealers are all women. I found the outer corridor filled 
with the wares, spread upon the floor, of those who could 
afford to pay only a small rent. Inside were rows of tables, 
and benches, and racks. Between the corridor and the in- 
terior was a series of small shops of miscellaneous merchan- 
dise. The market was well supplied. The river furnishes 
an abundance of fish ; a great variety of vegetables are cul- 
tivated in the immediate neighborhood ; various kinds of 
meat are raised on the best cattle-farms of the interior ; and 
fruit grows everywhere wild and in profusion. The wom- 
en had for sale also heaps of bread, dishes of butter, 
piles of white cheese, cream in stone jugs, maize, bouquets, 
and native beer, made from sugar-cane, in mugs. The mar- 
ket was filled to overflowing with the women traders and 
their customers, also women. The chatter and chaffering 
were almost deafening. Outside, one flank of the whole 
road was blocked with other venders, their wares spread be- 
fore them on mats upon the ground, the scant portions of 
food offered for sale, and the small coins displayed, betoken- 
ing the simplicity of habits as well as the poverty of the 
common people. In Asuncion the market-women have no 
carts or carriers whereby to send purchases home. The pur- 
chaser must take his basket, pan, pail, or paper with him. 
Large pans seemed to be the favorite utensil, and these, filled 
with the marketing for the day, or often for several days, 
the women gracefully carry poised upon their heads, a hand- 



168 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

kerchief alone intervening. Everything is carried in this 
manner, and always without a spill — huge baskets of eggs, a 
closed umbrella, great jars of water, and likewise empty jars. 
These last are frequently borne in a very coquettish manner, 
resting securely at an angle of forty-five degrees. The hands 
are never employed to steady anything conveyed upon the 
head. It is otherwise in Egypt and India, where one hand 
or both are in frequent requisition. The middle and lower 
class women all walk barefooted, and this carrying of heavy 
weights upon the head greatly strengthens the spine, and 
gives them the same graceful carriage for which the Hindoo 
women are famous. 

The women of Asuncion generally dress in white or 
light-colored skirts, and a chemise neatly embroidered with 
lace and cut very low upon the bosom. These are their sole 
garments within-doors, the climate being warm and equable. 
For the street, a loose white cotton scarf is added, and this is 
worn upon the head and shoulders like the black mantilla. 
The skirt is, of course, bound around the waist, and combines 
with the front of the chemise to form a pouch for holding 
money and cigars, there being no regular pocket anywhere. 
The hair of these women is brushed straight back from the 
forehead, braided in a great mass, and secured with a gilt 
comb. Flowers are occasionally added behind, or worn above 
the ears, between them and the head, and this latter custom 
has quite as pleasing an effect as the former, when you be- 
come accustomed to it. Gold pendent ear-rings are generally 
worn, and sometimes a necklace of gold and coral beads. 
The young girls, with their brown satin skin, their symmet- 
rical features, pearly teeth, piercing black eyes, and dense 
black hair, are often very beautiful ; while, on the other 
hand, the old women, wrinkled, blear-eyed, crooked, and at- 
tenuated, are frightful specimens of moribund humanity. 
While the disuse of shoes and stockings so largely helps in 
giving the women their elegant pose and walk, it rather de- 
forms the feet, spreading the toes sometimes quite half an 
inch apart, and producing the flat, fan- shape termed splay- 



A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 169 

foot. In Paraguay, as in Burmah, all ages and both sexes 
are constant smokers. When the cigar is not alight, they 
are busy chewing the end. A small, coarse roll of native 
tobacco is used, and as the cigars thus manufactured are not 
well made, they seem most of the time to be extinguished. 
It took me quite a while to get used to the spectacle of a 
pretty girl smoking a great cigar an inch in diameter. So 
few men are seen in Paraguay that I had almost forgotten to 
speak of them, and in fact have very little to say concerning 
them. Though small, they generally possess a fine muscular 
development. They are lazy, but splendid horsemen. The 
true native wears a white shirt and baggy trousers, with a 
gay-colored sash and felt sombrero, and he goes barefoot. 
I have hitherto been speaking of the majority. Others, and 
of course the upper and traveled classes, imitate Europeans 
both in dress and in manners. Among the Paraguayans, 
Indian blood seems to predominate to a greater degree than 
among any of the other Spanish-American nations. 

The influence of climate in forming the habits of a na- 
tion may be daily observed in Asuncion. From five until 
eight o'clock in the morning the streets are full of people 
marketing, but from noon till 2 p. m. you may traverse the 
city from end to end and not meet a score of inhabitants. It 
is the hour of the siesta, the hottest part of the day, and the 
people are either breakfasting, reading, writing, resting, or 
most probably taking a nap. This is a universal custom, to 
which the foreign resident and the visitor easily surrender. 

Excepting small copper coins, the only currency at pres- 
ent in circulation in Paraguay is paper. The printing on 
the face of this very confidently demands the Bank of Para- 
guay to pay the bearer for each paper dollar one " hard " or 
silver dollar ; but you will soon find, in seeking change or 
making a purchase, that this paper money is at a deprecia- 
tion of twenty-five per cent. This, however, is better than 
in the Argentine Republic, whose paper currency is worth 
but fifty-five cents on the dollar. 

The Recoleta is the largest cemetery of Asuncion. It is 



170 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

situated about three miles to the north of the city, and is 
reached by a mule tramway. The road led through long 
lines of orange and lemon trees, loaded down with rich gold- 
en fruit of great size. There were also many palms and ba- 
nanas, and near the few bamboo and mud huts which we 
passed were gardens of beautiful flowers — oleanders, roses, 
pinks, daisies, and gay-leaved plants in profusion. I was 
greatly surprised at the number of people, most of them 
women and clothed in the deepest mourning, going in the 
same direction. There were also several small processions 
of what seemed to be families, following great black wooden 
crucifixes. I supposed it to be some church anniversary, but 
was hardly prepared for the sight which met my eyes on 
reaching the Kecoleta. On either side of the entrance were 
a dozen women ranged in a row, and selling bread, sweet- 
meats, fruits, flowers, and liquors. The burial inclosure is 
filled with black wooden crosses and mural tombs, a few of 
the latter of some architectural merit ; but there are scarcely 
any trees or flowers, and, as with the neighboring city, every- 
thing is unkempt and in disorder. An old church is con- 
nected with the Eecoleta on one side, and on the other, 
strange to tell, are an Italian restaurant and beer-garden. 
At this point also a fine flower and fruit garden flourishes. 
It is a very nice place of the kind, but I do not remember 
ever having before seen the quick and the dead under such 
circumstances, in such juxtaposition. Instead of reminding 
me that in the midst of life we are in death, it suggested 
that in the midst of death we may be very much alive. En- 
tering the Recoleta, I saw perhaps a score of men and at 
least five hundred women. The men remain uncovered dur- 
ing their stay in the cemetery, and out of sympathy, if not 
courtesy, I imitated their example. It seems it was All- 
Souls' day, when it is customary for Roman Catholics to 
visit the burial-places of their relatives and friends, to weep 
and pray there, to decorate the graves with flowers, to sur- 
round them with burning candles, and if able to afford the 
expense, to have a sort of requiem mass celebrated. There 



A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 171 

were some half-dozen priests going about from tomb to 
tomb, followed by bands of music embracing violin, clario- 
net, flute, and trumpet. These musicians accompanied the 
priests in their drowsy mutterings. A black cloth, marked 
with a gilt cross, would be thrown upon the grave, and upon 
it rows of lighted candles would be placed. The priest 
would then go through his ritual for the repose and salva- 
tion of the souls of the dead, standing at the head of the 
grave, which he sprinkled with holy water. Upon one side 
stood the musicians, and upon the other stood or sat the rela- 
tives and friends, many weeping, but many also, as is seen in 
more civilized countries, looking serenely at the passers-by. 
In fact, there seemed to be quite as many people drawn to 
the cemetery by curiosity as by affection. As the priests 
moved from grave to grave, so moved the gaping crowd. 
The higher and richer classes decorated their family vaults 
with splendid wreaths of flowers, and stood in rows before 
them, their lips mechanically mumbling prayers, while the 
stranger was being eagerly scrutinized. At some of the 
graves would be seen a poor woman kneeling in the dust, to 
which her head was also bowed, and which, in true biblical 
fashion, she threw over herself, uttering meanwhile the most 
heart-rending cries, and weeping in such a violent manner 
that I feared it must all end in a fit. The cemetery pre- 
sented a very extraordinary scene. The varied costumes of 
the people, the beautiful flowers, the gloomy-robed priests, 
the wild, pathetic music, the sobs and shrieks of the mourn- 
ers coming from every direction, the crowd of bustling sight- 
seers, the odd forms of the monuments, the quaint old church 
— in which I afterward stumbled across a corpse lying quite 
unattended — the palms and bananas looming beyond the 
walls, the distant forests — such were the sights and sounds at 
which, alone, and bareheaded, under a tropical sun, I stood 
amazed. Nothing, however, but its utter strangeness could 
have caused me to intrude upon the touching grief of these 
simple-minded, faithful, and affectionate people. 

From Asuncion I took a railway trip eastwardly into the 



172 AROUND AND ABOUT 80UTE AMERICA. 

interior of Paraguay, to the town of Paraguari, already men- 
tioned. The fare was one dollar and sixty cents. The loco- 
motive and carriages were of English fashion and manufact- 
ure. There were four classes of passengers. People of the 
fourth were in open box-cars, without seats of any kind. 
These cars were, however, the best patronized and chiefly by 
women. The road was a broad gauge, but the cars were low 
and short. Our train was very long — eight passenger and 
as many freight cars, some of them full, and others brought 
along to be filled on the return journey. The engineer was 
not a foreigner, as I had expected, but a Paraguayan. "We 
started at the early hour of 5.30 a. m., and did not reach 
Paraguari until 10.30 a. m. — or live hours for a journey of 
fifty miles. The first station was that of Trinidad, where 
there is a splendid old and curious church in which is buried 
the first Lopez, President of Paraguay, and father of the 
famous general. At the next important station about thirty 
women appeared at our car- windows, wishing to sell bread, 
meats, cigars, and lace-work of a very good quality. There 
were also many beggars, horribly crippled and disfigured by 
virulent diseases. We went on through mandioc-plantations, 
and forests containing many palms and bananas, until we 
caught sight of a fine range of hills upon the left, and soon 
afterward of the Lake of Ytacary, upon the western bank of 
which is a German colony, called San Bernardino, number- 
ing about four hundred souls. The Paraguayan Government, 
it seems, gives free farm-lots of sixteen acres to each unmar- 
ried and thirty-two acres to each married male adult, be- 
sides providing free passage from Buenos Ayres, and giving 
advances of provisions for six months, a number of plows, 
and a quantity of seed, with three cows. The colonists have 
some hundreds of acres under potatoes, beans, etc. 

We made frequent and very long stops where there 
seemed little else than stations. At each, and also in the 
train, were great crowds of women, but scarcely a man — 
another striking illustration of the results of the late war, 
and of the present disparity of the sexes. The engineering 



A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 173 

obstacles in the construction of this road must have been 
almost nothing. There are no cuttings or fillings, and 
scarcely a bridge of any size. The road runs along the great 
meadows of an almost level valley, four or five miles wide, 
with but a few grass-thatched mud houses appearing here and 
there, and with low ranges of wood-clad hills on each side. 
We see quite a number of cattle and a few sheep. There is 
no tillage save that of the small vegetable gardens near each 
house. We pass a remarkable cone-shaped hill and an oddly 
formed table-topped one, and soon arrive at Paraguari, the 
present terminus of the line, though it has been graded half- 
way to the town of Villa Rica, some seventy miles distant, 
to which a coach runs once a week. The town or rather 
village of Paraguari lies about a quarter of a mile to the 
southward of the railway-station. I proceeded thither in a 
curious two-wheeled omnibus, having wheels some six feet 
in diameter, with one horse in shafts and the other free, 
which draws by means of a chain attached to the belly-band. 
Paraguari I found to be a small village of not more than one 
thousand inhabitants, laid out about a great grass-covered 
square, in the center of which is the market, where mandioc- 
roots, oranges, and a good supply of meats and vegetables, 
are for sale. All the way from Asuncion we had passed 
great orange-orchards, some of the trees being thirty feet in 
height, and covered with the luscious fruit, which here sells 
as cheaply as one dollar per thousand. Around the square, 
in simple single-story houses, are a few stores, a tinsmith's, 
a blacksmith's, a bakery, half a dozen shops of very miscel- 
laneous merchandise, and a hotel kept by an Italian. Be- 
yond, and scattered at intervals, are a few mud-plastered and 
tile-covered huts. In the garden of the hotel are fine grape- 
vines and peach-trees and flowers — including roses, pinks, 
oleanders, and many others common to Northern eyes. 
Around the village are great grassy plains, and, as a border, 
ranges of low hills, with here and there an isolated peak, and, 
near the railway-station, two precipitous wood-covered cliffs, 
which form about the only really picturesque sight since 



174 AEOUN'D AXD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

leaving Asuncion. The country hereabouts would not differ 
very much from the central Western States of North America, 
were it not for the frequently occurring palm-trees, which of 
course give the general view a tropical flavor. 

From Paraguari a coach runs once a week in a southerly 
direction, reaching some of the richest country and most 
valuable farms. It is intended eventually to prolong this 
route to Encamacion, on the upper Parana, and opposite the 
Argentine town of Posadas. But the present very limited 
rail and coach lines are everywhere supplemented by horse- 
back service, the real communication of the country. The 
horses are gentle, fast, and enduring. The saddles most 
esteemed are of English make or pattern, with a very wide 
girth — often a foot broad — which is not fastened, as with us, 
next the fore-legs, but upon the swell of the belly, or even 
behind it. Two girths generally are used, one being worn 
over the saddle itself. The bridles are very simple, though 
the bits are apt to be heavy. The horses are trained to obey 
with rapidity and exactness the slightest turn of the hand. I 
noticed many carts coming into Paraguari, drawn by three 
yoke of oxen, suspended above which was a long pole bearing 
bunches of feathers for driving aw T ay flies, and iron goads for 
spurring dilatory beasts. The carts are great, two-wheeled 
fabrics, with cylindrical hoods of hides and pliable wood. 

On leaving Asuncion my plan was to return to the 
Parana and ascend it to the Iguassu River, the boundary 
between Brazil and the Argentine Republic, wishing to visit 
in it some very remarkable and little-known falls, and return- 
ing thence to pass over by land to the Uruguay, and, de- 
scending it, to cross again the Plata to Buenos Ayres. On 
November 4th, therefore, I left the capital of Paraguay in 
the Rio Uruguay, of the Lloyd Argentine line of steamers, 
which runs six vessels a month between Montevideo, 
Buenos Ayres, and the ports of the lower Parana^ and the 
Paraguay. We had a great many passengers, and most of 
them were bound to small river-ports. There was also a 
good deal of freight — fruits and vegetable produce. At a 



A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 175 

station a little below Asuncion we took on board an enor- 
mous quantity of large oranges. Immediately upon the bank 
was a great heap of them, fifty feet in length, twenty-five in 
width, and four in depth. These were all brought on board 
in flat baskets, holding about three dozen each, carried as 
usual upon the head by women. About two hundred feet of 
plank had to be traversed from shore to steamer, and all the 
work was done quite in the middle of the day, under the 
bare sun, and with a temperature of nearly 100° Fahren- 
heit. These women have splendidly developed figures, and 
are very strong and enduring ; but it took some fifty 
of them nearly five hours to get all the fruit on board. 
"While they were thus engaged, about a dozen men sat in the 
shade of the trees, quietly looking on, but not one of them 
assisting in any manner. It was so hot at night that we 
were all compelled to sleep upon the open deck. 

The next morning we reached Corrientes, where I had 
already stopped on my upward voyage. It is a large town, 
situated on high but level ground, about fifteen miles below 
the junction of the Paraguay and the Parana, on the left 
bank of the latter. A half-dozen little side-wheel steamers 
lay at anchor abreast of the town, doubtless for the navigation 
of the upper Parana. There is no custom-house inspection, 
though Corrientes is in the Argentine Republic, and we had 
come from Paraguay. I find an ordinary hotel in the center 
of the town. The streets are quite as sandy as those of Asun- 
cion. They are fairly wide, however, with broad sidewalks. 
In the principal plaza is a tall column erected to Liberty, 
made of simple brick and covered with stucco. On one side 
of the plaza a new government-house is being built, on the 
other stand the police headquarters, formerly the old Jesuit 
college, a very quaint, old, two-story building, with a square 
tower, and cornices in quite the style of a mediaeval fortress. 
The plaza also contains a biblioteca popular, or circulating 
library, which is open for two hours, morning and evening. 
In a stroll about town I found a theatre, a good market, a 
national bank, and numerous haberdashers. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 

There are two lines of steamers running from Corrientes 
to Itusaingo, opposite the Apipe rapids, which prevent fur- 
ther navigation upon the Parana, except by light-draught 
vessels in times of high water, when they go directly through 
to Posadas, the farthest town on this river, although there 
are some few hamlets still higher up. Formerly, in the 
dry season, or period of low water, people went up or around 
the rapids in a canoe, but now a coach line passes along the 
bank. The "Posadas," of one of the companies which send 
boats to Itusaingo, is a fine side-wheel steamer, with state- 
rooms on the upper deck, like the large Parana steamers, 
but I did not feel like waiting four days in so dull a place 
as Corrientes, and accordingly took passage in a little iron 
double-deck screw-steamer, about sixty feet long and twenty 
broad. Her capacity was but eight passengers, for whom 
there were berths in the combined cabin and dining-saloon. 
The fare to Itusaingo, one hundred and sixty miles, was ten 
dollars. Our cargo was various, consisting of wire for fences, 
mate or Paraguayan tea, alfalfa or clover, sugar, wine, kero- 
sene, and flour. Besides our wood-burning, high-pressure 
engine, we employed a large square sail. With both, how- 
ever, running against the strong current, we could hardly 
make more than six miles an hour. The captain, steward, 
and several of the crew were Italians. The old Jesuit col- 
lege, with its castellated tower, was a long time in sight, but 
finally it faded and was gone, and we continued within a 
stone's-throw of the bank, to avoid the swiftly running cur- 



ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 177 

rent as much as possible. We had not gone very far before 
our engine broke down, and, after being nearly driven on 
shore by the combined force of wind and current, we were 
compelled to anchor until repairs could be made. 

The banks of the upper Parana, like those of the Para- 
guay, can scarcely be called interesting. They are flat, covered 
with coarse grass and large trees, and very thinly settled. 
This is true of them as far as the mouth of the Iguassu, some 
two hundred miles above Posadas. Beyond that, to its 
source in Brazil, the river is almost unknown. Sailing-ves- 
sels are non-existent. The only inhabitants seem to be in the 
water and air. The Parana is full of water-hogs, alligators, 
and large fish of excellent quality, and it is covered with 
huge water-fowl. I shot numbers of all these, except per- 
haps of the alligators, which it is always difficult to know 
whether you have killed. We stopped every night at dusk 
for wood, and did not go on until morning. "We lost much 
time in landing our freight, it being taken, parcel by parcel, 
on men's backs up the steep banks and on to the center of 
the villages. In South America, as in Asia, the traveler 
must be armed with a great amount of patience and urbanity. 
No one hurries, no one attends strictly to the business in 
hand. As with African negroes, the natives play and sky- 
lark like children with their work, for of course it is under- 
stood that what is not done to-day may always be done 
rnanana, to-morrow. We were four entire days in reaching 
Itusaingo, which consists of only a few houses on a steep 
bluff. Upon the shore were about fifty natives, who had 
come down to witness our arrival. As the coach did not 
leave until the following day, we were obliged to pass 
another night aboard, and suffered terribly from insect pests. 
There were enormous swarms of mosquitoes, a poisonous 
biting fly, fleas, a sort of gnat, and about a dozen varieties of 
moths and beetles. The heat was very oppressive, and the 
dew like a light rain. 

I found the coach for Posadas built after the Swiss dili- 
gence pattern, with four wheels, two benches facing each 
12 



178 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

other behind, and a sort of coupe front division. Beyond 
this projected a single seat for the use of the driver. This 
vehicle, which would hold eight passengers, is the national 
coach of all the River Plate countries. The team consisted 
of seven mules or horses — four harnessed abreast to the 
coach, a pair before these, and the whole led by a horse 
attached by a long lariat, and pulling as usual by his girth 
alone. This horse had a rider ; the two behind had but to 
follow; and reins from the four others passed up to the 
driver. The road, or rather trail, for it was only a track 
across the prairie, was so bad that we were obliged to change 
our animals every six or eight miles. We rode along through 
the open plain, not far from the Parand River. The pampa 
of these countries is really nothing more than an extensive 
grassy plain, bounded on all sides by the horizon. There is 
generally not a tree or shrub of any kind in view, and when 
you do see them you may be sure they are cultivated near 
some farm-house. Sometimes the grass is short and fine, 
but more often coarse and high. Cattle and horses are seen 
in every direction. Here one first makes acquaintance with 
the Gaucho, or native horseman, a rude half-breed, who lives 
on the pampas and is employed in catching wild horses and 
slaughtering cattle. He is a small, dark man. very stoutly 
built, w T ith straight black hair resting on his shoulders, scanty 
but long beard, and a physiognomy generally bespeaking 
hardihood, a free, wild life, and an intense love of liberty. 
He is dressed in shirt and short drawers, over which he wears 
a leathern apron with deep fringed edges. Of course, he is 
barefooted, and upon his head he w r ears a large, soft, black 
felt hat. He always carries a long, sharp knife in his belt. 
He sits his horse like a centaur ; in fact, these people are born 
horsemen. We passed a number of large cattle-farms, with 
their clusters of small houses surrounded by trees and gardens. 
The dwellings of the Gauchos were very numerous, but, 
being ordinary mud-huts, do not call for any special descrip- 
tion. At one place in the road we passed a gentleman trav- 
eling in his private carriage, with four horses, postilions, and 



OJST THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 179 

outriders. It was an extraordinary equipage. The horses 
were harnessed quite twenty feet from the carriage, and, all 
being mounted, of course there was no driver. We encount- 
ered another native, with his wife mounted behind him on 
horseback. 

From Itusaingo to the town of Posadas the distance is 
about sixty-five miles, but there is not a single resting-place 
on the road, nor a spot where anything to eat may be had. 
The country does not even now seem quite secure ; at least 
all my companions carried weapons, and I, having been fore- 
warned, did the same. At each stopping-place fresh horses 
or mules would be caught in large corrals or stock-yards, and 
the others turned loose upon the prairie. Late at night we 
halted and prepared for sleep, some in the diligence, others 
under it. But first we made a lunch off potted meats, bread, 
and wine. At four in the morning we arose, drank some 
warm milk, which the Gaucho women drew fresh for us, 
and started on again. The gently undulating plain was 
covered with huge ant-hills of brown or reddish earth, and 
perched on many of these were owls and other birds. I 
noticed also many partridges and birds of gay plumage, but 
I heard no song. We passed caravans of the great wagons 
of the country, loaded chiefly with mate, or the Jesuits' tea, 
as it has also been termed. These carts had wooden wheels, 
six or seven feet in diameter, and were roofed with coarse 
straw or sometimes with tin. In them is placed a central 
floor, upon which the drivers, who often have their families 
with them, sleep and keep their cooking-utensils. 

Posadas, the capital of the Argentine province of Mis- 
siones, I found to be a little town built of brick, and laid 
out at right angles, with a comfortable house for the gov- 
ernor, some barracks for troops, a few stores containing a 
heterogeneous stock, a bank, a club, and a hotel. A detach- 
ment of three hundred troops is stationed here, it being an 
outpost of the Argentine army. Bugles, drums, and the 
practicing of a brass band are heard all day long. Posadas 
has a weekly newspaper, several hackney-carriages, is lighted 



180 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

with kerosene-lamps, and is connected with the Uruguay 
River, as with the lower Parana, by diligence, the one the 
route by which I had arrived, the other that by which I in- 
tended to depart. 

The next day I went to Encarnacion, a small town on the 
opposite side of the river, in Paraguay, and about a mile 
distant. The ferriage is by means of large sail-boats, and 
the fare is twenty cents a passenger. In the stream were 
lying a small gunboat, a steam-tug used for towing cattle- 
barges, and a little steamer belonging to a wealthy firm of 
Buenos Ayres — Messrs. Uribi & Co. — and employed at in- 
frequent intervals in bringing yerba-mate, or tea-leaves, from 
some large plantations of theirs far up the river. It was in 
this small vessel that I proposed ascending the Parami as 
near as possible to its branch, the Iguassu, in which I wished 
to visit the great falls. Encarnacion consists of a single long, 
broad street, running directly back from the river toward 
the north. About a mile in the interior are the ruins of the 
old Jesuit reducciones, or villages of converted Indians. The 
buildings are mostly of mud, and the outlines of the quad- 
rangle of the convent may be readily defined. The massive 
wooden lintels are as solid as when originally built. The 
rooms are small, and some of them contain faint frescoes on 
the walls. The wood-work is exactly and strongly dove- 
tailed, and there are turned bars in the windows. The old 
tiled roof is in some parts still intact. Other remnants of 
the Jesuit missions are scattered about this province, which 
is appropriately named Missiones — regions where mission- 
aries preach the gospel among the heathen — in which the 
stone carving and masonry are still shown in capital preser- 
vation. 

I was obliged to wait an entire week in Posadas for the 
departure of the little steamer, of which I have just spoken, 
for the head of steam navigation on the upper Parana, a 
place with the very Indian-like name of Tupurupucu. It 
was called the Carima, and was an iron screw-boat, about 
fifty feet in length by twenty in width. Our captain — who 



ON TEE TRAIL OF TEE JESUITS. 181 

was also a merchant — was a native of the Argentine Repub- 
lic, though with the very Moorish name of Abdon Ahumada. 
He spoke no language save Spanish, and had never been be- 
yond the borders of his own country, but he was well- 
informed, refined, and genial, and I soon began to esteem 
him as one of the best friends I had made in South America. 
If these lines should ever come to his sight, he may be as- 
sured that I am more than grateful for his many kindnesses, 
and that I can never forget his charming companionship on 
those romantic days and nights in the solitudes of the Pa- 
rana and the Iguassu. Our engineer was also an Argentine, 
the pilot was a Portuguese, and the crew were Paraguyans, 
who spoke only Guarani, the great Indian dialect of central 
South America. There were half a dozen passengers besides 
myself. We were provided with wooden shelves to sleep 
upon, but had to furnish our own bedding. The berths and 
the dinner-table were in one and the same room, at the stern. 
The pilot-house was forward, high above the deck, and here, 
under a large wooden roof, was room for the passengers to 
sit and obtain unobstructed views of the river and its banks, 
and to enjoy whatever breeze might be stirring. We towed 
three sloops and several canoes, which descend the river 
with the current very well, but which can only return, and 
slowly, with a strong favoring wind. Our steamer can go 
down the river in less than half the time required for the 
ascent, and upon the upward journey is chiefly loaded with 
wood for the boilers. The crew occupied half the first day 
in cutting up a couple of bullocks, and hanging the flesh in 
thin slices or strips upon ropes stretched about the steamer. 
It thus dries and cures in the sun and wind, and becomes 
what we style " jerked " beef. 

During the first day both banks were high, diversified in 
outline, and densely covered with large trees. There were 
no towns or villages ; but' at long intervals solitary huts, or 
boats drawn upon the sandy beaches, betokened the presence 
of the wood-cutter or herdsman. The burning forests indi- 
cated the clearing of land in many places. We met but few 



182 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTE AMERICA. 

sailing-craft, all of slight tonnage. About fifteen miles from 
Posadas we pass, upon the south bank, a large brick sugar- 
factory, belonging to the Governor of Missiones, who owns a 
large plantation hereabouts. In this place we leave two of our 
passengers. At night we anchor just below some dangerous 
rapids, which extend nearly across the river, and going ashore 
we visit a native known to some of our number. It is a 
very hot night, and the air is thick with every sort of insect ; 
so we find the gentleman sitting under some trees near his 
hut, busily engaged in adding fuel to a great fire he has 
built to help drive the pests away. He is surrounded by his 
wife and six little children, all but naked, while five dogs 
completed the company. The man had the Christ type of 
face as painted by Salvator Rosa, with pointed beard and 
enormous mop of black hair parted in the middle. The 
children were engaged in shelling beans, somewhat like those 
which we call Lima beans. These, together with cassava, 
the starchy substance prepared from the mandioc root, and 
fish from the great river, constitute almost the sole food of 
these poor people. 

At daylight we steam on, stopping now to leave one of 
our towed flotilla, now a passenger, and now to send merely 
a few letters ashore. The banks were wild and deserted, 
though occasionally we saw the huts of the wood-cutters. 
The timbers of this part of the country are very hard, and 
serviceable for building purposes. With the mate they con- 
stitute about the only commercial products of the Upper 
Parand. The only animal life in sight were white and yel- 
low butterflies. Sometimes the whole river would be cov- 
ered with millions of these, in clouds ten feet above the sur- 
face, and the sandy shore would be for miles colored with 
the varying tints of their wings. So distinct and solid was 
this color that at first I mistook it for some sort of fungus 
growth. During the day the river narrowed to half a mile. 
It preserved, however, its previous characteristics of tortu- 
ousness, forest-clad banks, and in a few places a current so 
swift that it could be stemmed only with the greatest diffi- 



ON THE TRAIL OF TEE JESUITS. 183 

culty. At night we anchored as before, but suffered greatly 
from the heat, from large moths which dashed continually 
against our faces and necks, and from thousands of stinging, 
creeping, biting, ill-looking, noxious vermin. 

The next morning at daybreak we continue our slowly 
advancing voyage. During the day an iguana was seen swim- 
ming across the river; Large birds were also observed stand- 
ing upon the banks, and there were foot-prints in the sand of 
tapirs which had come down to drink. The river narrowed 
to a quarter of a mile. It is quite ten feet below its highest 
level, as I could see by great bare flats of rough, black, flinty 
rocks, and large mounds of the purest and finest white sand. 
We stopped at San Lorenzo, a few huts on the Paraguayan 
side, and again at Piray, on the Argentine side. Here I met 
a Dane, a shopkeeper, whom, together with Senor Ahumada, 
I invited to accompany me to the falls of the Iguassu. We 
anchored near some wood-cutters, friends of the Dane, and 
after dinner went on shore to call upon them. On ascend- 
ing the very steep bank, I found several large houses built 
simply of bamboo-stems, some distance apart, with grass- 
thatched roofs. The construction of these huts was admi- 
rably adapted to admit insects as well as air, while, of course, 
forbidding any privacy to the inmates. The people, how- 
ever, are anything but squeamish. Adjoining the huts was 
a sort of small shed, quite open on most sides, and here were 
the beds — simple platforms of twigs, with blanket and pillow 
— where the people slept, somewhat protected by small smol- 
dering fires against the regular nightly visitors. They thus 
succeed in driving away a few insects, by half suffocating 
themselves with smoke. * Near by were gardens of maize 
and a few flowers. In a rough inclosure of bamboos was a 
horse, under a tree was a cow, and scattered promiscuously 
about were half a dozen wretched curs and a couple of very 
nice, sleek cats. Though these natives always have milk, 
and make excellent cheese, they know nothing of butter. 
There was a commodious pool of fresh water, which is 
brought thither in a bamboo trough several hundred yards 



184 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

long, from a cool spring away up in the hills. A bathing- 
house for the ladies had been improvised in the woods, by 
simply stretching a piece of coarse cloth between two trees, 
the three remaining sides being uninclosed. This reminded 
me of the manner in which the Chinese used to build their 
forts, thinking it discourteous for an enemy to intrude at the 
rear. We entered the larger hut, and took seats in hammocks, 
or upon empty boxes. A large table at one side held all the 
culinary furniture. A small table contained a candle, the 
sole illumination, and some ornaments, among which was a 
very ingeniously constructed toothpick-holder, made of two 
large toucan-bills standing upon alligators' teeth. This was 
the work of the lady of the hut, a very pretty and sweetly 
innocent-looking girl. Her husband, a fine, muscular young 
fellow, at once ordered the courtesy of Paraguayan tea, which 
for some time circled round the company, amid great talking 
and laughing, the pretty girl being especially amused by two 
young gallants of our steamer's company. At my sugges- 
tion the charming hostess brought forth some more of her 
clever handicraft, a fan made of the gaudy feathers of sev- 
eral birds, with an enormous toucan-bill for a handle. This 
was a work of art which would have brought fifty dollars in 
New York. These natives are as simple and ingenuous as 
children, laughing at everything, and all talking and shout- 
ing together in a most diverting manner. They smoke in- 
cessantly, either mites of Paraguayan cigars, or cigarettes 
covered with bamboo-leaves. Physically speaking, they are 
superb specimens of humanity. Their costume is, for the 
men, simply a fancy-colored shirt and loose drawers, with a 
large felt hat, and often a gay-colored bandanna about the 
neck. They generally go barefooted, or sometimes wear 
alpargatas, or slippers made of hemp, which are not only 
cool but durable. The dress of the women is no less sim- 
ple, being merely a chemise and skirt, though, with the taste 
and coquetry common to the sex everywhere, they generally 
manage to add attractions here and there, such as jewelry, 
flowers above the ears, embroidery upon chemises, or fancy 



ON TEE TRAIL OF TEE JESUITS. 185 

neckerchiefs. All this is very pleasing, but not so their cus- 
tom of going barefooted. The women generally speak Gua- 
rani, but I often found that the men spoke Spanish also, more 
or less correctly. At night we were overwhelmed with thou- 
sands of mosquitoes, which of course made sleep an utter im- 
possibility. How lovely and enjoyable the tropics would 
everywhere be, but for the ever-accompanying creepers and 
fliers which sing and sting ! 

At daylight we were off again, the river being now but 
a few hundred yards in width and lined by dark rocks of a 
volcanic appearance, as if, when molten, they had been sud- 
denly cooled and stiffened. On both sides of the Parana 
there are many tributaries, but the Iguassu is the first of 
any special size. This river rises in southern Brazil, near 
the Atlantic, flows almost due west, and forms the boundary- 
line between that empire and the Argentine Republic. This 
morning we passed the mouth of the Nacunday, which has 
a beautiful fall partly in sight from the Parana. I also saw 
the house of Senor Adam, an Italian, who has lived here fif- 
teen years. He has a large farm of maize and sugar-cane. In 
his garden is a cascade, forty feet high, in the midst of palms, 
ferns, and bananas, which are full of parrots, toucans, and 
brilliant butterflies. At night we visit a small waterfall in 
the river Itupi, and, though nearly devoured by sand-flies, 
succeed in getting a delicious bath. The next morning we 
pass the mouth of the river Monday, six miles up which 
there is said to be a fine fall of water. The general course 
of the Parana^, since leaving Posadas, has been nearly from 
north to south, but nevertheless it is exceedingly tortuous, and 
as you advance the channel runs first upon one side and then 
the other, doubling and twisting in most erratic fashion. 
Then there is the swiftly running and eddying current al- 
ways at hand, to drive you either on rock or shore — so 
that altogether a specially trained and experienced pilot is 
required for Upper Parana navigation. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 

About noon, on the fifth day from Posadas, we anchor at 
the mouth of the Iguassu, here a river about a thousand 
feet in width and seventy feet in depth, with dark-green 
water, which contrasts to great advantage with the dirty- 
yellow flood of the Parana. At this point the steamer is to 
await my return from the falls, a distance of twenty miles, 
which I expect to accomplish in two days. My party is soon 
complete, and all arrangements are perfected. Those who 
are to accompany me are Senor Ahitmada, the Dane, the 
quartermaster, the cook, and seven Paraguayan sailors. "We 
are to go at first in a canoe, about thirty feet lung and five 
feet wide, and afterward on foot, through the primitive forest. 
The canoe is made of planks, with a flat bottom, stout ribs, 
and sharp ends, and is propelled by paddles about six feet in 
length, the men standing or sitting on the gunwale to ply them. 
Three or four paddle near the prow, and one paddles and 
steers in the stern. We have a rifle, shot-gun, revolvers, and 
bowie knives, and consider ourselves amply protected. The 
provisions for my friends and myself are in tins and bottles, 
and for the men a quantity of jerked beef, mandioc, and bis- 
cuit is provided. After paddling up-stream for a short time, 
the men think better progress can be made by going on shore 
and towing the canoe by a long rope, taking turns at this 
arduous work, which, however, considering the swift current, 
advances us more rapidly than by paddling. It is extremely 
hot, and we extemporize an awning out of our ponchos. The 
shores are steep and covered with great black rocks, tilted in 



THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 187 

every direction, and I find among them fine specimens of 
agate, crystals, and beautifully polished pebbles. Occasion- 
ally we come to long, sandy beaches, and notice many shells 
and the tracks of tigers, water-hogs, tapirs, wild fowl, arid 
young alligators. I see one of the latter on the -shore, and 
also two seals crossing the river. The banks are at first some 
three or four hundred feet in height, and are densely covered 
with primitive forest. A short distance from the mouth of 
the river we pass a series of rapids, which, however, are not 
very tempestuous. I observe many large and small fish in 
the water, some of the large ones being of a beautiful blue 
and white color, and as much as fifty pounds in weight. I 
try to have a shot at some black ducks, but can not get within 
range. It is interesting to see the manner in which the men 
tow the boat — now running along the sand, now clambering 
over the rocks like so many monkeys, next swimming around 
some outlying bowlders in which the drag-rope is sure to get 
entangled, and then in the water up to their necks pushing 
and lifting the canoe with all their strength. The river is 
tortuous, and with its fine green banks and black rocks, its 
dark water and rushing rapids, presents altogether a pictur- 
esque sight. I take my seat in the bow, and, with a wave of 
my hand and about the only words of Guarani I possess, sig- 
nify the position of rocks to our steersman sitting in the 
stern ; for the river is full of sunken rocks, and its bed is of 
little else than honey-combed reefs, which account for the 
continually eddying, swirling water. The men play at their 
work, and, as one or another is swept off his feet by the tow- 
rope or by the oozy bank, afford us quite as much amuse- 
ment as themselves. We stop frequently, for the men must 
have their mate, and as often as they find a cool spring I like 
to drink myself, though on all such occasions we are nearly 
devoured by a species of large black fly. 

I land on the north bank, my first visit to Brazil, and take 
a long walk in search of wild men or animals, the latter pre- 
ferred, and small ones at that. This part of Brazil is sparsely 
settled, or rather infested, by the Tupi Indians, who are 



188 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

quite savage. I desired to study them from an ethnographic 
stand-point, but, as they are said to have a very disagreeable 
habit of shying arrows from behind trees at too inquisitive 
strangers, it is perhaps just as well that my curiosity was not 
gratified. Night coming on, I enter our boat and cross over 
to the Argentine side, and camp for the night on the sandy 
bank, under the stars and insects. I say " under the insects " 
advisedly, for we were literally covered with insects as with 
a blanket. So enormous were their quantity and voracity, 
that I doubt if any of us slept an hour, except those boatmen 
who covered their heads with their ponchos. There were 
moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, gnats, sand-flies, fleas, spiders, 
ants, etc., etc. The moths had short, thick, black bodies and 
wings of a dark green. They circled and circled, and 
whisked and brushed about you, until you were nearly driven 
mad. Despite the danger of alligators, though they are 
small and few in the Iguassu, we all took a swim in the river 
before supper, but found the water far too warm for comfort. 
The temperature, in fact, was very high by day and by 
night. The rocks over which I had climbed during the after- 
noon were so hot you could not hold your hand upon them 
longer than a few seconds. We made a fire, and the men 
took great slabs of jerked beef, which they strung upon sap- 
lings and prepared to roast. This was soon served up, sim- 
ply in its own fat, and, though a little tough, it was not bad 
eating for a hungry man. The meat being cooked, each man 
advanced and cut with his bowie-knife from the general 
stock. The same stout, two-edged instrument was used also 
to split our adamantine biscuits, and it was interesting to 
observe how polite all were : no one put his knife in his 
mouth. We washed down our supper with sugar-cane rum 
and water, a single cup being passed around the circle. 
After this meal there was a brief interval of talk, story, and 
song, and then we all lay down upon the hard, clayey bank, 
upon single blankets, with ponchos at hand to cover us in the 
early morning. Our boots served admirably for pillows. 
We heard so many wild animals crying in the forests, that 



THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 189 

I deemed it prudent that two 'men at a time should watch 
during the night, armed, the one with the gun loaded with 
buckshot, and the other with the Remington rifle, while each 
of my party had a knife or a revolver under his head. The 
fire was, of course, kept up all night, and the watch was to 
be changed once. And thus, with millions of insects upon, 
around, above, under, and partly through us, we tried to 
sleep, my thermometer indicating 95° at eight o'clock in the 
evening. But for the full moon and beautiful Southern Cross 
above me, the gently murmuring river at my feet, and the 
dark forest walls beyond, I should have been quite willing to 
confess that the explorer's life is not altogether a happy one. 
All things save eternity, I suppose, must end, and that fear- 
ful night at last really did finish its horrid existence, and we 
were all only too eager to start at daylight. 

The high banks presented the same general appearance, 
but the rocky shores increased in savage grandeur. There 
were fewer rapids, and we were able to paddle for some time, 
half of us walking in order to lighten the boat and thereby 
hasten somewhat our progress. But soon I plainly saw that we 
could go no farther by canoe, the current being far too power- 
ful, and giving conclusive evidence of furious rapids above. 
So, after a consultation, we made the canoe fast until our return 
from the falls, and each one loaded the canvas haversacks, 
previously provided, with his share of the food and baggage, 
and proceeded to walk, or rather clamber, over the rocks upon 
the south side of the river. The really arduous part of the 
journey now began, and I should recommend succeeding 
travelers not to make the forced march that I was obliged to 
undertake — because I could not hire my men for a longer 
time — but to take at least four days for the trip ; or, if they 
wish to see the falls with much detail, say a total of ten days. 
All the food for the entire journey must be carried with 
you ; for, though the country contains game, it is not to be 
depended on. Many of the rocks over which we have to 
climb are twenty feet square, of every conceivable shape, 
and tilted upon their ends or sides in the wildest confusion. 



190 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

These rocks have a lava-like look, and many of them have 
circular holes, like the pot-holes of Switzerland and Norway, 
ground into them by whirling pebbles and water. The sides 
of others next the river are fluted like the basaltic pillars of 
the Giants' Causeway, in Ireland, but these on the Iguassu 
are of a yellowish, clayey color, though the material is hard 
and brittle. As we slowly toiled on and over and between 
these rocks, the heat was tremendous, for we were placed 
between two waves, one pouring down from above, the other 
reflected from below. At eleven o'clock the thermometer 
in the shade read 115° Fahrenheit, and two of my party 
quite broke down, the one a native and the other the Dane. 
We left them behind to rest under the trees until afternoon, 
while the remainder of us pushed on until finally the river- 
banks became so precipitous we had to take to the forest. 
Here we found that the trail made by a Brazilian boundary 
commission a few years ago was so overgrown that we had 
actually to hew a tunnel for our passage through the matted 
verdure. We had not, however, advanced two hundred feet 
into the thicket before I heard a jaguar breathing loud and 
snarling, as if he also were irritated by the oppressive heat. 
He made a tremendous noise by his stertorous breathing, 
and seemed to be near at hand, somewhere upon the very 
hill which we were ascending. This was the first creature 
that I heard in the woods ; the first creature that I saw was a 
greenish-black snake, about four feet in length. I halved 
him with a blow of my bowie-knife. The quartermaster 
informed me that this serpent's bite was fatal. Wishing a 
jaguar-skin very much indeed, I thought it a good plan to 
halt and order dinner prepared while I started off to beard 
the jaguar in his den, if indeed he happened to possess so 
sequestered an article. His breathing had now become half 
a roar, so that no guide to his neighborhood was needed. 
After getting into a copse, however, where it was impossible 
to see ten feet in any direction, it suddenly and very impress- 
ively occurred to me that possibly the jaguar also might 
have a passion for collecting skins, and that he might utilize 



THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 191 

that propensity by seeing me first. My retreat was rapid, but 
as dignified as the circumstances permitted. My revolver 
carried a forty-four-caliber shot, and my nerve had heretofore 
proved so available that I took this risk, hoping that the 
brute might be both small and unsociable, though of course 
it would have been better for me to have a good repeating- 
rifle and more open ground. The forest contains many ani- 
mals besides snakes and jaguars, such as tapirs, deer, wild 
pigs, monkeys, squirrels, partridges, and wood-turkeys. 

The profusion of insect-life in this forest I have never seen 
equaled anywhere, excepting in some of the lowlands of Siam, 
and I have no desire to see it equaled again. You have a 
choice of evils : either to let the vermin settle upon you — for 
it is useless to brush them off, since, before your hands cease 
their motion, quite as many as before are upon you — or to 
keep no portion of your body uncovered, which is unbearable 
in such a hot, steamy atmosphere. I counted fifty bites on a 
little finger, all received in one night. These were mostly 
mosquitoes, though some were inflicted by ants. I can 
readily imagine a delicate, nervous man being actually wor- 
ried to death by them. I mean that they so distress and 
enervate you, by constant fretting and worriment by day 
and loss of sleep at night, that you gradually become ex- 
hausted, your appetite and digestion fail, your blood becomes 
impoverished, and you are covered with sores, which itch 
dreadfully because of the poison they contain. Another 
dangerous pest of these forests is a tick, called a carrapato, 
which has a sort of trident of teeth serrated inward, and also 
six legs, each provided with strong, hooked claws. These 
parasitic torments climb out upon the branches of a tree, 
catch at any passer-by, and fasten upon him. Horses and 
cattle sometimes die from the exhaustion caused by the bites 
of these creatures, which settle in swarms. The traveler soon 
has the appearance of a person suffering from herpes, and 
frequently succumbs to fever. Still another very annoying 
and dangerous pest is the jigger, a small insect of the flea 
family, which penetrates the skin of the feet, and, laying its 



192 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

eggs, rears a numerous family under it. If, on discovery, 
these are not immediately cut out, very serious sores are pro- 
duced, which it becomes almost impossible to heal. 

The remainder of my party coming up somewhat re- 
freshed, we push on to the falls, the leaders having continu- 
ally to use their machetes, or chopping-knives. We had to 
tight briers, vines, and roots ; to ford brooks ; to clamber 
over fallen trees ; to crawl on hands and knees under thickets, 
at first up-hill and then on a level, until, after about two 
miles, we suddenly emerge upon a small stream which forms 
the first fall on the Argentine side of the river. From here 
we have a good general view of the situation and surround- 
ings of the falls, though not nearly so complete a one as that 
to be obtained farther on, from the third fall. The streams 
are connected in several places above the falls, and to reach 
the brink of the third fall it is necessary to wade in water up 
to your waist for about half a mile. The bottom is of the 
same hollowed, honey-combed conformation as the rocks on 
the bank below, and being, moreover, polished by the current, 
presents a very difficult surface for walking. Still, we accom- 
plished it without a tumble, and were rewarded by a most 
magnificent spectacle. So shallow was the fall to which we 
had come, and so comparatively weak was the current, that 
we were able, without great risk, to stand in the center of the 
stream, near the brink of the precipice over which it drops. 
The first view of the great falls in their solitary grandeur 
and beauty is perfectly overwhelming. You behold the 
"Niagara of South America ! " They have, indeed, no such 
width, no such enormous volume of water as has Niagara — 
what falls anywhere have ? — but they are of the same color 
and form, and, moreover, they are fifty feet higher, with 
environs still unmarred by the devices of man. Right be- 
fore us, and some two hundred feet below, is the river, which 
here divides into two great streams, with banks fully five 
hundred feet in height. Between these branches is an ex- 
tensive table-land, perhaps two hundred feet high, with pre- 
cipitous sides, covered with large trees, somewhat like Goat 



THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 193 

Island in Niagara River. This is about half a mile long, and 
stretches to the center of a semicircle one hundred feet 
higher, over which in twenty (in very dry seasons perhaps a 
hundred) different places roll the splendid falls of the 
Iguassu. The country above the falls is at first flat,' with a 
low range of hills in the distance. The river here is two 
miles wide — that is to say, its various streams combined are 
of that width, for great stretches of uncovered land lie both 
between them and between the falls. Of the two principal 
falls, one is on the Argentine side and the other on the Bra- 
zilian. It is the latter which, in its horseshoe-shape, so 
strongly resembles the "Canadian" cataract. The other is 
a broad, straight sheet, like the "American" cascade. The 
first is about two thousand feet in width, the second twelve 
hundred feet. Below the falls the river is pressed between 
narrow escarpments of rock, and in its velocity it rages with 
all the seething fury of the " Whirlpool" rapids of our world- 
famous Niagara. The Iguassu down-pour, with its beautiful 
greenish- white water, drops two hundred and fifteen feet over 
sheer precipices of dark rock, and throws out and aloft enor- 
mous clouds of spray. In a windless day the thunderous 
roar may be heard twenty miles through these forest soli- 
tudes. Standing up to my waist in the flowing river, I filled 
my hands and drink to the health of Emperor Dom Pedro, 
of Brazil; President Roca, of the Argentine Republic; and 
President Cleveland, of the United States. Several of these 
falls have at various times received local titles other than the 
" Falls of the Iguassu," but no specific name, recognized in 
maps or books, has ever been given them, notwithstanding 
that they are almost rivaled farther up the river. I there- 
fore assume the explorer's privilege of naming them Daly 
Falls, in honor of Charles P. Daly, LL.D., the learned and 
genial President of the American Geographical Society. 

We returned through the forest and encamped near the 
jaguar's lair, but, not hearing from him during the night, 
supposed he was absent from home. We kept in the center 
of the stream in going down, and shot the various rapids in 

13 



194 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

grand style, all my men at their paddles and shouting in a 
fashion vividly recalling Central Africa. We reached the 
steamer without accident or adventure, and, weighing anchor, 
started up the river to Tupurupucu, the present limit of 
steam navigation and the headquarters of the Messrs. Uribi's 
large yerhale, or mate-tea forest. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

A PARAGUAYAN EANCH. 

The exploration of the Daly Falls was probably the most 
important, as it was certainly the most interesting, event of 
my entire tour. As the reader is aware, they are situated in 
the heart of the South American Continent, upon the Iguassu 
River, twenty miles from its junction with the great Parana. 
They are about equally distant — say a thousand miles — 
southwesterly from Rio Janeiro, and northeasterly from 
Buenos Ayres. Should the prospective visitor be able to 
make all the connections exactly, they might be reached, via 
the Parana and the Iguassu, in two weeks' time from Buenos 
Ayres, or, I should suppose, in about the same time by way 
of the Uruguay, and crossing by land to the Parana. But it 
is not well, in these dilatory countries, to trust to making 
such connections. The popular North American system of 
" through express " routes has nowhere, as yet, been intro- 
duced into South America. There, somehow, the people 
never appear to be engaged in any specially urgent business. 
The best route would, in my opinion, be by way of the 
Parana, and it would be well to allow two months for the 
round trip from and to Buenos Ayres. But, though a sight 
of the falls is worth toil and hardship, I fear that, such is the 
lack of conveniences and accommodations at present and in 
prospect, that it will be a very long time before it will become 
fashionable for tourists to go there. 

After dinner on board the steamer at Tupurupucu, the 
captain kindly invites me to go up to the house of Messrs. 
Uribi and spend a couple of days, while his steamer is loading 



196 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

yerba for Posadas. "We have a horseback-ride of three miles 
through the somber forest, but upon a good road, over which 
tea is transported in carts to the steamer. Upon arriving, we 
are served with rich milk, and cakes made of maize, and then 
we go to bed upon cots spread for us upon the earthen floor 
of a large room, of which one side is quite open. A row of 
horses, a few feet distant in the corral, look at us as long as 
we have a light, and then we hear the grinding of corn, like 
so many little mills, until we fall asleep. The ground being 
flat and mostly cleared of vegetation, we enjoy a welcome 
respite from our recent foes of the insect world. 

Upon arising in the morning I was served with the in- 
vigorating mate, and then took a stroll, to observe more care- 
fully my location and surroundings. The establishment, a 
typical Paraguayan farm, formed, of course, a great square — 
everything in South America seems built in a quadrangle — 
inclosed by a stockade. In front were the corral and a great 
warehouse in which the mate is stored ; on either sides were 
sheds for the huge wooden carts used for transporting the 
yerba to the river-bank ; beyond was a store of miscellaneous 
goods for the employes, and also the office, dining-room, and 
bedrooms. Directly in front of the latter was a large grass- 
roofed space, where nearly all day long stood a score or so of 
horses, mules, and cattle, a light fence only separating them 
from the corridors of the building. The store contained a 
stand of carbines to help subdue any mutiny of the peons, or 
day-laborers, or any incursion of marauding Indians. Behind 
the main buildings, which have grass roofs, mud and bamboo 
walls, and earthen floors, with very little furniture, and that 
of the simplest character, are the huts of some of the em- 
ployes, the kitchen, and an iron mill for grinding maize and 
mate, all under open sheds. Cooking is performed on a 
large wooden box filled with earth, and standing upon four 
legs. Only three or four pots and kettles are used. The 
flat and almost treeless plain of this estate is about fifteen 
miles square, and upon this are pastured about a thousand 
head of cattle. The campo, as it is called, is covered with 



A PARAGUAYAN RANGE. 197 

"both fine and coarse grass, beautiful flowers, and many great 
red ant-hills. Some of the latter are ten feet in height and 
four in diameter. They are scattered all over the face of the 
country, and look in the distance like the stumps of fallen 
trees, or tree-stumps that have been left in clearing the land 
for agricultural purposes. They are occasionally open at the 
bottom and utilized as ovens by the natives. The yerba for- 
ests are five or ten miles distant, and here, in the season, 
some six hundred men are employed. On returning to the 
house from my walk, I am served by a thinly clad, barefooted 
Indian with a large cup of milk warm from the cow, and a 
great hot roll of baked cassava. I find both very delicious. 
Soon thereafter, in company with Senor Ahumada, I start 
out on horseback to visit an Indian family living in the 
neighborhood. A dozen saddles are always kept upon the 
fence in front of the house, and as many horses are in wait- 
ing, ready to be used by any one. This corral is at all times 
of the day a very interesting arena, where horsemen are con- 
tinually coming and going, and cattle are being driven in or 
out. The Indians I find living in very primitive style in 
bamboo huts, containing little or nothing in the way of 
either furniture or food. A huge wooden mortar, with a 
long pestle of a hard wood like mahogany, both similar to 
those found in Africa, are used for pounding maize and 
other grains. A fire for cooking is built on the ground 
in one corner. Hammocks are stretched in the veranda, 
and here the natives loll and smoke by day and sleep by 
night. The weapon of the men is a huge bow, with long, 
poisoned arrows. There were some very prettily plaited 
baskets made by the women, and calabashes were used for 
holding water. These Indians did not understand a word of 
Spanish, and our combined stock of Guarani was insufficient 
for any extended conversation. 

We next took a long ride through the forest to the river 
Acaray, a small stream which empties into the Parana a 
short distance below Tupurupucu. The trees and orchids 
much interested me, as also the variety and profusion of ani- 



198 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

mal life. As we jogged along, a small iguana crossed the 
road, a little farther a hare, then a snake, then, in the air, a 
gaudy toucan. Birds chirped and monkeys chattered in the 
thickets. The air was radiant with clouds of the most beau- 
tiful butterflies, of every size and color. At the river was a 
great shed filled with flat-bottomed boats, used to transport 
the yerba. In returning I spied an ant-bear and a small deer. 
We breakfasted at noon : a hot and oily vermicelli-soup, a 
dish of boiled beef and mandioc-roots, then one of roast pork, 
with a curious salad flavored with onions and spice, a dish of 
rice with cream and sugar, the whole washed down with na- 
tive wine, tasting strongly of grapes, and followed by cups 
of tea and cigarettes. Our dinner, at 8 p. m., was almost 
a repetition of this, and both were wholesome and delicious 
meals, eaten with appetites engendered by the free exercise 
and fresh air of the country. The heat was so great, how- 
ever, that every one was compelled to take a long siesta, our 
beds being arranged by the side of the table, both after 
breakfast and dinner. Generally by nine o'clock every one 
is in bed, and all are up and stirring by five and some fre- 
quently by four of the morning. While our steamer was 
loading three thousand arrobas (an arroba is twenty-five 
pounds) of yerba, I spent two very delightful days at the 
ranch of Tupurupucu. There is good fishing in the neigh- 
boring rivers, and partridges may be shot within one hun- 
dred yards of the house. The only drawback to a thorough 
enjoyment of this free style of life is the great heat, which 
may be expected during at least one half of the year. The 
downward trip to Posadas occupied but two days, and was 
uneventful. I was obliged to wait four days in Posadas for 
the tri-monthly diligence to San Tome, a village on the Uru- 
guay River, and about sixty-five miles distant. 

We finally left Posadas at six in the morning in a dili- 
gence like that in which I had come from Itusaingo, having 
seats for eight passengers, and a team of six horses — four 
wheelers and two leaders, with a postilion about twenty feet 
in advance, whose horse was attached to our team by a lariat. 



A PARA G UA YAN RANGE. 1 99 

This latter method seems to effectually prevent balking, and: 
besides keeps the team well up to its work. Four passen- 
gers besides myself were bound to San Tome. They were 
all merchants save one, the priest of Posadas, who had been 
invited to a church fiesta. Our route lay over an all but tree- 
less plain, containing fine meadow and coarse tufts of grass, 
and the road was, as before, a mere track across the prairie, 
which we often left in order to make short cuts, or to select 
more even ground. The country was very thinly populated. 
Where there were clumps of trees we generally found small 
ranches, and at such we would change horses,. "We changed 
so frequently that more than one hundred horses were used 
in the short journey of sixty-five miles from the Parana to the 
Uruguay. We passed a few of the great wooden ox-carts of 
the country, carrying yerba-mate or hides to the river-ports. 
Sometimes the oxen are directed from the cart, sometimes 
by a horseman who uses a long pole for the purpose. About 
one o'clock we halted for the day at a ranch where a small 
mud hut stood for the use of travelers. Many domestic ani- 
mals were gathered around — chickens, dogs, cats, geese, also 
some paroquets, and a monkey. Suspended Ibj ropes were 
great quantities of meat, drying in the sun and wind. As 
soon as we arrived, cots were prepared for our siesta, and the 
table was set for breakfast. It was amusing to see the finery 
of the bed-linen employed upon rude cots in a grass-roofed, 
mud-walled, and mud-floored hut. The sheets and pillow- 
cases had at least a foot of lace embroidery attached to them. 
This was evidently highly appreciated by the chickens, for 
they had not only free access to the hut, but to the beds and 
breakfast-table. It is very striking, all over the world, how 
inconsistent semi-civilized people are with the luxuries or, at 
least, the comforts of life.. At night we all took our cots 
out-of-doors and slept soundly until daybreak, each with re- 
volver or knife, or both, under his pillow, including even the 
man of peace and good-will, the padre. Every one in these 
countries is accustomed to carry either knife or revolver ; yet 
I could at first hardly comprehend its necessity,, never hear- 



200 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ing of any deeds of personal violence, and finding everybody 
so courteous and pleasant, masters and servants, and even 
strangers. I had supposed it to be a sort of survival of feu- 
dal times arising in a similar and as sensible a manner as 
the fashion of our wearing two buttons behind upon our 
coats. Once everybody wore a belt, and the two buttons 
were used to support it behind. Belts are no longer worn, 
and yet the buttons have not been excised. Instead of dying 
out, they continue to survive, like rudimentary organs. I 
inferred that it was the same with the weapons so universally 
carried by the South American people ; but the next day I 
saw that these weapons could be quite as useful as ornament- 
al. A man, whom we took up for a short distance, had 
some few words with one of the other passengers regarding 
his seat. Nothing more happened at the time, but upon 
alighting the dispute was at once renewed. One accused 
the other merely of not being complimentary, when revolvers 
were whipped out in a trice, and it was as much as the rest 
could do to prevent reciprocal onslaught. In fact, only the 
presence and persuasion of the priest prevented bloodshed. 
After this little episode, I put a few extra cartridges in my 
pocket and whetted my bowie-knife, fearing that, if there 
was a general fight, I might be " counted in " without the 
polite preliminary of consulting my wishes. 

As we went on, the great green sea of grass, with occa- 
sional copses of trees, made an undulating country about us. 
The plains were plentifully dotted with cattle and horses. 
The former were sleek, but most of the horses were sorry- 
looking hacks. We passed a few small streams, but not until 
we reached the neighborhood of the river Uruguay did trees 
abound. The people, of course, know nothing of " through " 
routes, or of the motives that impel travelers to hasten. 
There is, therefore, little or no accommodation on the road. 
For some of our meals we had to take with us cold meat, 
bread, and wine, which we would eat while our horses were 
being changed Instead of completing the journey in a single 
day, as might easily have been done, we took the halves of 



A PARAGUAYAN RAFGH. 201 

two days. San Tome I found to be a small village upon the 
"bank of the Uruguay, in a perfect forest of orange and banana 
trees. The houses are like those of Posadas, one story in 
height, made of rough, unplastered brick. A hotel and a club 
occupy the greater part of the same building. A bank ap- 
pears in evidence of civilization, and quite a number of stores 
contain the ordinary articles of sale. The streets are lighted 
by kerosene-lamps. On one side of a large plaza stands a very 
old church, of dark rough stones, cemented together with 
rubble-work, which produces quite an ornamental effect. 
The Uruguay River is here about a mile wide, with muddy 
water, a strong current, and green, wooded banks. In the 
stream, which is all of a hundred feet below the level of the 
town, I found a few sloops, loading with hides, yerha, and 
wood, for ports down the river. The steamer, which runs to 
Ceibo, an Argentine port, and others intermediate, did not 
leave until three days after my arrival. It proved to be 
a little paddle-wheel vessel, of twenty tons, and drew but 
thirty-two inches of water. The captain was an Argentine, 
the engineer a Scotchman. There were accommodations for 
twenty passengers, part of them in the open saloon, and a 
part in two cabins, in the stern, set apart for women and 
children. We started with one passenger besides myself, 
and took two more on board at the first stop, the town of 
San Borje, in Brazil, where we also shipped two thousand 
hides and a quantity of wool. 

In going on from San Borje we have a loaded schooner 
in tow. There is a strong breeze from the southward, and a 
number of sailing-craft take advantage of this to stem the 
swiftly running current, their sails standing out in the style 
known to sailors as " wing-and-wing." The larger ones are 
rigged like our brigs, and the smaller ones with a single mast 
or sail, or sails, like the conventional Mediterranean felucca. 
We stop several times to load wood for our boiler, great 
piles of it being stacked at intervals upon the high banks and 
thrown down to us. It is sold at the rate of sixty cents a 
hundred short sticks. There are several steamers which 



202 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

navigate the upper Uruguay — that part of it between San 
Tome and Ceibo, a distance of about one hundred and sev- 
enty-five miles. Below Ceibo, for a distance of one hundred 
miles, steam-navigation is interrupted by a series of falls and 
rapids, though a great part of the river is traversed by na- 
tive boats, and at certain seasons of the year, when the water 
is especially high, the whole of it. A railway on the Argen- 
tine bank, one hundred miles in length, connects the freight 
and passengers of the upper and the lower river navigation. 
A like railway has also been projected upon the Uruguay 
bank, but only a small portion of it has been completed. 
From Concordia, the southern terminus of the Argentine 
railway, the river is wide and deep, and there is almost daily 
steamer communication with Montevideo and Buenos Ayres. 
The Uruguay is not like the Parana as regards its reefs. 
Here they are far too many and too massive to pay for exca- 
vating a ship-canal. In the Parana the Apipe rapids form 
in a single spot the sole obstacle for nearly two thousand 
miles of that splendid water-way. Under a small moon and 
very bright stars we went on all night, and reached the Bra- 
zilian town of Itaqui at daybreak. Here were anchored in 
the river a monitor and two gunboats. On shore was a large 
arsenal and a garrison. The town is small, and not much of 
it appears from the riTer, which, being here quite narrow, 
makes the place of considerable strategic importance to the 
Brazilians. There is also an important trade in the yerla- 
mate. 

I do not think I have yet spoken of the practice of mate 
sipping among people in Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Argen- 
tine Republic. Mate and cigarettes are as ubiquitous here as 
coffee and pipes in the Levant. Mate is taken the first thing 
in the morning, and again about the middle of the afternoon, 
regularly. Then, besides, whenever you call upon a person, 
at any time of day or evening, mate is generally served as a 
delicate attention, whether your visit is of business or friend- 
ship. The mate is always proffered in a little egg-shaped 
gourd, no more than four inches in depth and three in diame- 



A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. 203 

ter. This is first nearly filled with the mate from a little 
opening at the smaller end and then very hot water is added 
to the brimming-point. A long brass or silver tube, the size 
of an ordinary lead -pencil, at whose lower extremity is a sort 
of spoon pierced with holes, is then inserted. This spoon is 
used to stir the mate, and through the tube you imbibe the 
tea. The gourd holds only a few swallows, and after being 
emptied is taken out, refilled with hot water, and handed in 
turn to each of the others in the company. It frequently 
thus circulates half a dozen times, a boy being constantly 
employed in serving it. Sometimes a little sugar is added, 
but I found the natural taste a rather pleasant bitter. It is a 
strong, stimulating drink, whose tonic influences extend over 
several hours. Wealthy people have their mate gourds 
carved, and the silver drinking-tubes elaborately ornamented 
with figures of plants and birds. All these people, both rich 
and poor, use the mate, and besides, great quantities of it are 
exported to Brazil and other more distant South American 
states. The appearance of the yerba-mate, or tea-shrub, is 
like the English holly. It grows without cultivation on the 
borders of the wildernesses, and there are even entire forests 
of it. There are only two simple processes in the prepara- 
tion of the mate, which thus gives it a certain advantage over 
the Chinese product. The first is the cutting of the trees 
and the gathering of the young leaves, which are generally 
dried in the field over quick fires. The second process is the 
crushing of the dried materials, which is carried on at a 
mate-mill. The one which I saw at Tupurupucu had six 
wooden stampers worked by teeth, placed spirally round the 
circumference of a revolving cylinder. The motive power 
was a strong mule. Other and larger mills, however, derive 
their power from water passing an overshot wheel of great 
diameter. These frequently turn out three tons, weight of 
mate per day. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

DOWN THE URUGUAY. 

"We called for some fresh provisions at the Argentine 
village of San Martin, so named in honor of the famous Gen- 
eral San Martin, who was born here. Opposite is the most 
important affluent of the Uruguay, the Ibicuy, a river navi- 
gable for native vessels for upward of one hundred miles. 
The next stop was also in the Argentine Republic, at Restau- 
racion, a village delightfully situated on the top of a hill, in 
the midst of luxurious vegetation. A few miles inland is 
the ruined mission of San Ana, one of the most fertile of 
the old Jesuit settlements. Here Aime Bonpland, the emi- 
nent French naturalist and traveler, and joint author with 
Humboldt of the " Travels in the Equinoctial Regions of 
the New Continent," spent the last twenty years of his life. 
Upon returning to Europe with Humboldt, after their five 
years of exploration and residence in northern South Amer- 
ica, Bonpland presented to the Paris Museum of Natural 
History his valuable collection of six thousand new species 
of plants, and was appointed by the Empress Josephine su- 
perintendent of her gardens at Malmaison. The subsequent 
career of this great botanist, owing to the overshadowing glory 
of Humboldt, is not so well known. In 1816, when forty- 
three years of age, he sailed for Buenos Ayres, where he be- 
came a professor of natural history. At the end of five years 
he set out on a journey to the Andes, but in passing through 
Paraguay was captured by the troops of the dictator Francia. 
After a residence of nearly ten years, under strict surveil- 
lance, he was released in 1831, and afterward came to San 



DOWN THE URUGUAY. 205 

Ana, where he established a vast garden, and acclimatized 
numbers of strange plants. Bonpland died in 1858, but one 
year before his illustrious colleague Humboldt. 

In the evening we anchored nearly opposite Restauracion, 
at the Brazilian town of Uruguayana, a place pleasantly situ- 
ated on a hill sloping back from the river and covered with 
orange groves. A large barrack showed conspicuously near 
the bank. At daybreak on the next morning we started down 
the river, now at a greater rate of speed, having got rid of 
the vessel which we had been towing. The river was about a 
mile in width, and the banks were low and but little wooded. 
In the distance was fine meadow-land, and several herds of 
ostriches were seen. We reached Ceibo, the port of the 
town of Monte Caseros, three miles distant, about noon. 
Three or four small steamers were clustered here, and half a 
dozen sailing-vessels were moored in a little creek upon 
which stands the railway-station, a suitable brick and iron 
edifice. The train departed at 1.30 p. m. for Concordia. The 
line is English in its equipment, and the carriages have iron 
sunshades at the sides, as in Egypt and India. There were 
but two classes of passenger-cars, and a small postal and bag- 
gage van, but many freight-cars which were loaded prin- 
cipally with hides. Monte Caseros is a small, dull town, with 
much good pasture going to waste in the streets. The line 
of railway to Concordia passes the entire distance through an 
undulating prairie of grass, with trees visible only on the 
banks of the distant Uruguay. The river itself is not in 
sight, although we run parallel to it, until we near the end 
of the journey. In the pampa are many great herds of cat- 
tle and horses, and a few sheep and ostriches. Uruguay con- 
sists mostly of luxuriant pastures, and the chief industry is 
the raising of cattle, horses, and sheep, as in the Argentine 
Republic. Half a dozen stations dot the line, some sur- 
rounded with only a cluster of native huts, others communi- 
cating with a neighboring town or colony. At Concordia, 
which we reached in six hours, we entered a fine large sta- 
tion, built quite in the English style. The town of Salto, 



206 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

with its whitewashed, stuccoed houses, shone resplendent in 
the setting sun. This is on the opposite side of the river, a 
few miles above Concordia. The latter is a bustling town, 
with a tramway, a plaza full of trees, a cheap-looking Liberty 
column, an unfinished cathedral, and a hotel as good as any 
in Buenos Ayres, if not better. It is kept by a Frenchman, 
and is large, clean, and comfortable, with a very liberally 
supplied table. 

At seven o'clock the following morning I left for the town 
of Fray Bentos, and the famous meat-extract factory of Lie- 
big, in Uruguay. Two large steamers, of different lines, 
sailed simultaneously, and both were well patronized. In 
the river, at Salto, were several merchant-vessels and a small 
steamer, and near the town were two saladeros, or meat- 
salting factories. There was also a large saladero at Con- 
cordia. Both these towns are busy places. Concordia, in 
fact, is the third town in importance in the Argentine Re- 
public, and Salto enjoys the same rank in Uruguay. The 
steamer on which I took passage was a large iron, double- 
deck, paddle-wheel boat, with very powerful engines to op- 
pose the strong current, and with accommodations for several 
hundred passengers. The service is irreproachable, and the 
table excellent, as might be expected, the line being French. 
One of these fine large steamers leaves Concordia for Buenos 
Ayres five days in the week. For the first part of the jour- 
ney the country was very thinly settled, and the banks were 
low and fringed with trees. Here and there were glimpses 
of the prairie beyond. Some of the views were smooth, 
soft, and mildly picturesque, with palms and other trees 
thinly scattered upon the green and yellow meadows. About 
noon we reached Paysandu, a large Uruguayan town, built 
upon a hill gently sloping back from the river and partly 
concealed by trees. The river is here less than a mile in 
width, with a swiftly flowing current. We reached Fray 
Bentos about five o'olock in the afternoon. At that point 
the river makes a sharp turn to the east, and widens to an 
expanse of several miles. Fray Bentos is a small village 



DO WHT THE URUGUAY. 207 

built upon a high peninsula, with broad, macadamized streets 
and a plaza crowded with trees. On a similar headland, about 
a mile south, are the buildings of the Liebig extract-of-meat 
establishment and those of its employes, making a small vil- 
lage by themselves. Half a dozen vessels were in the river, 
engaged in shipping the well-known juice. 

The next morning I visited the famous factory. The 
grounds are surrounded by a high brick wall, entered through 
a lofty archway. The manager and superintendents live 
within this inclosure, though the most of the employes are 
in the village apart by themselves. The company employs 
about a thousand hands, who with their wives and children 
form a community of over twenty-five hundred people. In 
the private office of the manager were a fine large library 
of English, German, and Spanish books, and a table loaded 
with recent English periodicals. Upon a huge sideboard 
stood an excellent bust of Justus Liebig, the great German 
chemist. There was also a cabinet containing jars of all the 
various kinds and sizes in which the extract is packed for 
market. Adjoining this room were several used by the 
cashier, secretaries, and book-keepers. The company work 
but seven months of the year. They have some thousands 
of acres of pasture, and some hundreds of thousands of cattle. 
Since the company was started, in 1865, the number of cattle 
slaughtered is 2,600,000, representing a value of $36,400,000. 
During the slaughtering season 1,000 oxen are killed daily. 
They are good and sound animals, and not less than four 
years old. You are shown by obliging clerks through all 
the different parts of the factory. Connected with the estab- 
lishment are all sorts of machine-shops, so that nearly every- 
thing necessary is made upon the premises. There is a tin- 
smith's, a carpenter's, and an engineer's shop, each on a very 
complete scale. Adjacent is a good iron pier, at which ves- 
sels may lie and load directly from the works by means of a 
tram-road. 

A short distance out on the pampa there are large corrals, 
and a stockade-bordered lane leads into the slaughtering-yard. 



208 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

Arrived at this general depot, about fifty cattle are closely 
penned, and a man, standing on the stockade, lassoes them 
one by one, the end of his lasso being attached to a neighboring 
winch, turned by steam, which hauls the fated beast, stum- 
bling and slipping and pushing aside all animals in its way, 
till its head touches a beam where stands the matador or 
killer. This man is armed with a short, broad-bladed, sharp- 
pointed knife. With one blow, close behind the horns, he 
severs the spinal cord, and the animal drops with a heavy 
thud, but without a struggle, upon a small iron truck. This 
is at once drawn (the lasso having been disengaged) by two 
men into a great shed, where about one hundred men are 
busily at work skinning and cutting up the carcasses. Not 
unfrequently the horns of the one lassoed become entangled 
with the horns of another, and they are brought up to the 
beam and dispatched together. Along one side of the great 
shed are long ranges of rails for hanging meat, and along the 
other is a flat, flagged place, slightly shelving, upon which 
the oxen are laid. Here, by means of a lasso attached to a 
horse, the animal is hauled into its place, where a skinner is 
waiting for it. He immediately cuts its throat and begins 
his work, very rapidly removing the skin. Though the vic- 
tim's sensation is probably entirely destroyed by severance of 
its spinal cord, yet muscular action is not ; and it is rather 
ghastly to see the struggles of an animal with half its skin 
off, and to detect a sound painfully like a bellow. These 
movements seem to take place when certain nerves about 
the neck are touched and thus set in action. Soon the ani- 
mal is cut into a hundred pieces, and the parts are quickly 
sorted and taken in different directions. The meat, warm 
and quivering, is cut from the bones and hung upon the rails 
provided for that purpose, and the skins are put into large 
brine-baths for soaking. Entrails, skulls, horns, tongues, 
hoofs, and even the blood, are carried away. Everything is 
carefully preserved, and every part of the animal is utilized. 
Even the bones are ground and, mixed with the meat after 
the extract is obtained, 'with hide-trimmings and blood, are 



DOWN TEE URUGUAY. 209 

made into an artificial guano which proves a very efficient 
fertilizer. The skinners wield knives like razors, work with 
lightning rapidity, and show profound knowledge of bovine 
anatomy. They will skin and cut an animal into a hundred 
pieces in eight minutes. The operation has been done in 
five. Each skinner gets fifteen cents per head ; but, if in 
skinning he makes a hole in the skin, he loses his payment 
for that animal. In the height of the season he disposes of 
about thirty-five in a day. The sight of the great shed, 
where thirty bullocks at a time are being skinned and cut up 
by wild-looking, half-naked men, covered with blood from 
head to foot, the pavement running rivers of blood and 
clotted gore, is one not soon to be forgotten. Perhaps it 
would be as well that a very sensitive person should not in- 
spect this part of the establishment. But the fine adapta- 
bility of everything for its purpose, the splendid order ob- 
served by the workmen, and the preservation of as high a 
degree of cleanliness as is consistent with such a business, 
strike the visitor as very remarkable. 

When it has cooled, the meat is cleared of fat, and is 
stewed in large oblong caldrons, in which the water is kept 
somewhat below the boiling-point, as it is a peculiarity of the 
extract that it contains no matter not soluble in cold as dis- 
tinguished from boiling water. The thin soup so obtained 
is then strained off and carefully skimmed, which removes 
any trace of grease that may have remained in the meat. It 
is then passed through a series of elaborate evaporations, out 
of each of which it comes thicker, until it reaches a consist- 
ency rather more solid than treacle. The liquid becomes a 
jelly on cooling. It is now ready for use, and is packed in 
large tins holding about a hundred and ten pounds of the 
extract. Each of these tins contains, on an average, the sub- 
stance of fifteen animals, and is worth about two hundred 
and fifty dollars. The tins are exported in that form to Ant- 
werp, where they are examined by a special chemist attached 
to the company's general depot, after whose approval and 
guarantee, as regards composition and flavor, the extract is 

14 



210 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

potted, put up in cases, and sent out to all the markets of the 
world. 

As every one knows, Liebig's extract of meat is used as a 
highly condensed and nutritive food, as a tonic for the de- 
bilitated and sick, as a stock-pot for soups, made dishes, and 
sauces, and for flavoring meat, game, and fish. A pound of 
extract is sufficient to prepare one hundred and ninety por- 
tions of soup, of a strength equal to that obtained by the 
cooking of forty-five pounds of meat during three hours. 
The preparation contains chiefly fatty matter, flavoring and 
odoriferous principles, meaty acids, and certain soluble alka- 
line salts. Though from thirty-four pounds of lean meat 
but one of the extract is acquired, yet the concoction does 
not contain as many highly nutritive as stimulative qualities, 
which act as excitants of the digestive organs and tend to 
restore the appetite. The article never deteriorates, because 
it is wholly destitute of grease, albumen, and gelatin. The 
Liebig company claim an annual sale of eight million jars. 

In the evening I take the steamer for Buenos Ayres. 
From a point just above Fray Bentos the river increases to 
three miles in breadth, and thus continues, with low, unin- 
teresting banks, to its mouth. At seven o'clock the follow- 
ing morning I reach Buenos Ayres, after an absence of about 
two months. 

On December 22d I left Buenos Ayres for Rio de Janeiro 
in the Hevelius, a fine vessel of three thousand tons burden, 
belonging to the Liverpool, Brazil and River Plate great 
fleet of steamers. The Hevelius was bound for Antwerp 
(with calls at Montevidio and Rio), carried the Belgian mail, 
and displayed the red, yellow, and black banner of that 
kingdom instead of the British flag, under which the greater 
number of the steamers of Messrs. Lamport and Holt sail. 
She lay out in the Plata, together with about twenty others, 
all large ones, just fourteen miles distant from the city, 
not being able to get any nearer, owing to their draught 
and to the extraordinary shoaling shore. I doubt if any 
large seaport in the world has such a bad harbor, or more 



DOWN THE URUGUAY. 211 

properly roadstead, as Buenos Ayres. Four or five of the 
passengers were taken on board in a small tender. On our 
way the frequent appearance above the surface of only half 
the masts of vessels, hinted plainly enough of the dangers 
and risks of River Plate commerce. I found the Hevelius 
deeply laden with her cargo, and possessing accommodations 
for a goodly number of passengers, distributed in three 
classes. Those of the first class were very comfortably 
lodged. The saloon was a superb room, built upon the deck 
and lined with white marble, which gave it a cool, comforta- 
ble look, at least for those occupying it during the tropical 
part of the route. It was, moreover, very luxuriously fur- 
nished and ornamented, but the table was of the character 
too often found in English steamers — a small variety of very 
plain food, simply prepared, and tasting as if all had been 
cooked in the same kettle. Not fewer than five meals were 
furnished daily. In these particulars the French, Italian, 
and German steamers are generally far superior to the Eng- 
lish, though I am free to admit a sort of compensation in the 
correct discipline and seamanship always to be found on 
steamers of British nationality. "We weighed anchor at six 
o'clock — Buenos Ayres lying so low as to be quite out of 
sight. We passed two Argentine war-vessels, a monitor and 
a sloop, and reached Montevideo early the following morn- 
ing. Here we spent the day loading dried beef and live 
sheep for Rio Janeiro. The remainder of our cargo con- 
sisted of wool and hides, bound to Antwerp. Anchored 
near us were a score of steamers, several of them crowded 
with Italian immigrants. The beautiful and convenient 
position of Montevideo, as compared with Buenos Ayres, is 
at once apparent. Montevideo, however, is about all there 
seems to be of Uruguay, excepting the large towns of Pay- 
sandu and Salto, on the Uruguay River. At sunset we de- 
parted for Rio Janeiro, a voyage of about eleven hundred 
miles. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

KIO DE JANEIRO. 

"We celebrated a very merry Christmas, on the 27th 
passed the Tropic of Capricorn, and late in the evening 
sighted a powerful light on one of a group of islands lying a 
short distance from the entrance to the harbor of Rio de Ja- 
neiro. It is a revolving light, and, showing first white and 
then red, makes a very pretty sight. As we approached the 
entrance of the harbor, the dark hills, with their diversified 
forms and bare, precipitous tops, loomed grandly on either 
hand. They did not seem to be, on an average, more than 
fifteen hundred feet in height. There was, as yet, no moon, 
though the stars were brightly illuminative. The harbor 
of Rio is about one hundred miles in circumference, lies 
directly north and south, and is almost exactly of a pear- 
shape, the long and narrow entrance forming, as it were, 
the neck of the fruit. To the left, as we passed in, rose 
abruptly from the sea a great, precipitous rock, appropri- 
ately named, from its formation, Sugar-Loaf. Though but 
thirteen hundred feet in height, it is so steep and smooth 
that it has been climbed but by only three or four advent- 
urous persons. So sharp is it, that its conical summit 
does not appear to be over twenty feet in diameter. It 
stands dark and frowning, a grim old sentry on its post day 
and night. The entrance to the great bay is about a mile in 
width. On the left, not far from the Sugar-Loaf, is a small 
fort, and upon the north headland, near the water, is a large 
and powerful fortress, mounting one hundred guns. The 
hills back of this are not more than one thousand feet in 



BIO BE JANEIRO. 213 

height. We sheered over to within hailing distance, and 
were challenged (in Portuguese), " What steamer is that % " 
Our captain answered from the bridge, " Hevelius." " All 
rightee " came back from the fortress, and on we sped, past 
another fortification, on a small island in mid-channel, and 
still another, on an island far to the left, near which we 
anchored for the night, the forts meanwhile exchanging 
some lime-light signals. The harbor had here widened to 
about two miles. On the left lay the city of Eio de Janeiro, 
with a broad street, at the water's edge, some four or five 
miles in length. This, having an unbroken line of gas-lamps, 
presented a very beautiful appearance, as did also the hills 
beyond, bespangled with thousands of scattered lights. Up- 
on the opposite side of the bay is a large suburb called Mc- 
theroy. Here, on projecting points, are two more fortifica- 
tions, and a headland about the center of the great city bears 
another; so that altogether Eio, with its seven fortresses, 
ought to consider itself amply protected, especially when we 
add the presence of several huge ironclads moored a short 
distance from the shore. As our anchor fell to the distant 
bottom, the bright moon rose above the eastern hills, and 
illumined a marvelous scene. The whole bay was sur- 
rounded by little, pointed, and turreted hills, standing one 
behind the other, in every conceivable position, and ranging 
in every possible direction. Some were bare, others covered 
with vegetation ; but at the bases of all could be seen palms, 
bananas, and other tropical plants. The bay was sprinkled 
with islands near its shores, which were very deeply indented. 
The northern banks were too low and too distant to be dis- 
tinguishable, but the splendid range of the Organ Mountains, 
some three thousand feet in height, could be dimly outlined 
in the far distance. Beyond old Sugar-Loaf, to the south- 
west, was a precipitous cone called the Corcovado. This 
peak is about twenty-three hundred feet in height, and 
has a belvedere crowning its summit, which is reached by a 
cog-railway like those of the Eighi and Mount Washington, 
and from which a magnificent view of the bay and city of 



214 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Rio may be obtained. The extreme picturesqueness of all 
these hills about the bay I leave to my illustrations rather 
than to my pen. At iirst I greatly regretted being compelled 
to enter so renowned a harbor at night, but I afterward con- 
gratulated myself ; for I had the unusual experience of be- 
holding it crowned by starlight and gaslight on the edge of 
the ocean's murky darkness ; then illumined by a glorious 
yellow moon ; and, finally, sparkling in the daylight beside 
an azure sea. Upon going on deck I beheld what must 
undoubtedly be called the most romantic and amazing group- 
ing and display of natural and artificial objects to be wit- 
nessed on earth. I know not to what to compare this city ; 
it is altogether unique in situation and appearance. In one 
sense it somewhat resembles Yalparaiso, with its streets wind- 
ing about the bay and running up little valleys, and its build- 
ings covering the sides of steep hills. But in Valparaiso we 
have an amphitheatre of long, narrow ridges, while here we 
have many little conical peaks. In Yalparaiso were twenty 
ridges ; here were twenty peaks. There the ridges were 
much alike J here no two peaks were of the same height, 
shape, or position. In the former city we have a sort of 
background peculiar to the temperate zone ; but in Rio there 
is the wonderful flora of the tropics, with all its marvelous 
light and shade. Rio is really a hundred times as pictur- 
esque as Valparaiso. Such a wonderfully diversified picture I 
have never seen elsewhere. There seem to be nowhere two 
heights, or two levels, or two lines of any kind the same. 
The buildings of Rio remind me of a city of southern Italy, 
although it is rather more Oriental than any town of the great 
Mediterranean peninsula. The walls of the houses are col- 
ored red, yellow, brown, and pink, with variegated trim- 
mings, which, with the curious spires and domes of the 
churches, the tops of the scattered brown and gray peaks, the 
verdure in the distance, with a great expanse of shining water 
in the foreground, lighted by an early tropical sun, produced 
altogether a scene at which I gazed entranced. The great 
bay of Rio, with its average depth of sixty feet, could easily 




S.CbristO' 

LazarosN '^ v ^ 
Boa Vista xR? mS.1 v ' u -^'a^tel 

" \>"T5 JSt 
Aterrado^- ** T 



Luz 



3 

,© Catete 



/ 



m?r~% 



Corcovado * ,i^:^j'i: ! 



*£&■" / 



'S.,Tan:ol)|'S^e.Effi 



Sugar- Loaf 
Botanical Gardens ^ ^ Jp0% 

Cnpqjii-^' - ~J '-Catumduba 




Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro. 



RIO BE JANEIRO. 215 

contain the navies of the whole world. It is fed by a few 
goodly sized and several smaller rivers around its northern 
shores. Besides the great number of small islands is one 
very large, in the western corner, with the home-like name 
of Governor's Island ; but most of this magnificent bay is 
quite unobstructed for shipping. We hove anchor, and pro- 
ceeded to our permanent anchorage, near the custom-house 
and the business portion of the city. We passed ferry-boats 
which were almost a counterpart of those in New York Har- 
bor, some huge Brazilian ironclads, and men-of-war of 'other 
nationalities, and then reached a few steamers, with a fleet of 
ships beyond, the greatest number of them being anchored 
far out in the bay, though it is quite possible for large vessels 
to come right up to the splendid wharves which fringe much 
of the city. 

I land near an arsenal, and where a gigantic ironclad stands 
upon the stocks in process of construction. I walk through 
a portion of the business section, and then take a tram to the 
hotel in the southern part of the city. The old business 
part of Bio is built upon level ground, on a broad point of 
land which juts out into the bay. This part of the city 
seems like a bad imitation of Lisbon. The streets run ap- 
proximately at right angles, but are generally not more than 
ten feet in width, paved with " Belgian blocks," with an open 
central drain to which they slope, and with sidewalks on a 
level with the street and not more than three feet in width. 
The streets are so narrow that one does not wonder carriages 
are not permitted in the narrowest and most frequented of 
them. Even in the others it is a bad arrangement that side- 
walk and carriage-way should be on a level, for the carriages 
continually drive upon the pavements, almost grazing the 
store-fronts and compelling foot-passengers to jump into the 
nearest doorway. The houses which border these streets are 
very picturesque. No two are alike. They range from two 
to four stories in height, and are in every style of architect- 
ure, though all have little projecting balconies, and many 
have alcoves on the upper flights. Some of the larger and 



216 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

handsomer stores and public buildings are built of cut stone 
— a sort of gray granite — others have door and window frames 
of stone, and the remainder of brick and stucco ; or the first 
story will be of stone, and the others of brick and stucco. 
The walls of all the brick and stucco buildings are gayly 
colored, and this, with their carved balconies, low ceilings, 
and small windows, reminds one strongly of Lima. The 
ground-floors are occupied as stores, generally small and 
darkish, but containing a most extraordinary variety of goods 
of every quality and quantity. As in Montevideo, most of 
the streets have circlets of gas crossing them at frequent in- 
tervals for illuminating the city on feast-days, which are 
here, as elsewhere in South America, many and merry. 
Every house has, besides, its flag-staff projecting over the 
street. Then the shopkeepers have a way of suspending all 
sorts of signs and advertisements— placing also a large portion 
of their stock in trade in the doors and windows — in such a 
manner as to almost meet above your head, and serve, together 
with many awnings, to shut out the torrid sun, but alas ! the 
air also. The signs mostly project horizontally above the 
heads of the passers-by, who, as they stroll, may thus very 
easily get a good general idea of the imports and industries 
of the country. In these commercial schedules I was always 
reminded of the streets of the great Chinese cities, and nota- 
bly those of Canton, which are quite as wide as many of 
those of Rio Janeiro. Tramways, of both narrow and broad 
gauge, thread the streets of Rio in every direction. The cars 
are all open at the sides, and are drawn by strong and fleet 
mules. Many other public vehicles are drawn by mules or 
horses. One of the conveyances is a sort of light, two- 
wheeled, single-seated gig or tilbury, with one horse, and an- 
other is like the conventional hackney-coach, with two seats, 
and drawn generally by two mules. The coachmen are often 
mulattoes, and those attached to private stables are very gor- 
geously liveried. Of the many public squares in Rio, most 
are comparatively small. The hotel I found to be in the 
style of those in the East Indies, with a profusion of shower- 




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IfiiiMlililiilAliif 



Statue of Dom Pedro I. 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 217 

baths in great stone tanks, and rooms in detached cottages, 
opening upon fine gardens filled with odd-looking trees and 
beautiful flowers. Many great trees were covered with enor- 
mous bunches of scarlet and yellow flowers, just as small 
shrubs are with us at home. Always striking and interesting, 
too, were the noble columnar palms, with their smooth, gray- 
ish trunks, fifty feet in height, and topped by great tufts of 
leaves twelve feet in length. It is midsummer here — though 
"New- Year's" in New York — and exceedingly hot (ther- 
mometer 100° Fahr.). The people in the streets are dressed 
in light linen clothes. Only those compelled by business 
interests reside at this time in Eio, and most of these have 
their sleeping quarters on one or another of the many beauti- 
ful outlying hills. All the hotels are situated in the south- 
ern extremity of the city, near the shores of the bay. The 
rooms are carpetless, but contain a cane-bottomed bed, with 
very thin mattress and pillow, mosquito-curtains, and com- 
fortable bent-wood furniture, with, of course, a hammock 
for day-lounging. The windows and doors will probably be 
of blinds only. 

The day following my arrival I visited the Corcovado 
peak, the view from which is the great "show-sight" of 
Rio. This peak is situated some three or four miles in a 
direction southwesterly from the heart of the city. It is a 
great granite cone, precipitous at all points save one, and 
up this winds the mountain railway. The tramway takes 
you through the beautiful suburbs to the neat little station, 
whence nine trains each way are run on Sundays and holi- 
days, and four each way on other days. Before entering the 
single car, which holds about fifty passengers, and which the 
engine, with an inclined boiler, pushes before it, I noticed 
that the engine was made in Switzerland, with central cog- 
wheels and brakes. The road was surveyed and built by a 
Brazilian engineer. The engines weigh twelve tons. The 
rolling-stock cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
and the road carries about fifty thousand people a year. To 
reach the summit of the Corcovado the railway winds around 



218 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the sides of the valleys and along the ridges, a distance of 
nearly two miles. It passes right through a virgin forest of 
splendid trees, shrubs, creepers, ferns, aud orchids. The great- 
est declivity on the road is thirty feet in a hundred, against 
twenty -five in a hundred on the Righi and thirty-three in a 
hundred on Mount Washington. The curves are uniformly 
of a radius of three hundred and ninety feet. Near the first 
station is an iron viaduct, about three hundred feet in length 
and seventy-five in height. Several smaller viaducts are 
built, but there seems to have been much more cutting than 
filling, the total excavation amounting to seventy-seven thou- 
sand cubic metres. So much for the physical and mechani- 
cal facts of the road. It is more difficult to voice the impres- 
sions received while making the journey to the summit of 
this natural "coigne of vantage." Few things are more 
difficult than to portray in language the splendor, grace, and 
beauty of tropical scenery. Theophile Gautier could have 
done it, for his temperament was tropic, his ink was equato- 
rial, and his pen was nibbed with sunlight. No matter how 
far you may wander, the plants and flowers always have a 
strangeness, the atmosphere new effects. In brief, in ascend- 
ing Corcovado you pass through the heart of a tropical wood- 
land sitting in a comfortable railway-car ! About two thirds 
of the distance to the summit a good hotel has been built on 
the side of an immense valley, over which is a magnificent 
prospect of the plain where the famous botanical garden has 
been laid out, a great lagoon, some turret-topped, rocky hills, 
and the limitless ocean studded with little islands beyond. 
The hotel is provided with a French restaurant, and even 
a billiard-room and a shooting-gallery. It is the custom 
of many of the city people, during the hot, unhealthy sum- 
mer, to go there to dine, sleep, and breakfast, or even to 
dine, and return to town in a late train. On holidays the 
place is crowded. Many fine walks diversify the neighbor- 
hood, and through occasional breaks in the dense forest you 
obtain views any one of which is worth a voyage from New 
York. The nights are cool, and, what is also greatly to the 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 219 

purpose, you breathe pure air. From a point just beside the 
hotel you can see the toweriug top of Corcovado to the east- 
ward, but you can not see the bay of Rio nor the city ; the 
view is to the south and west. The plain is everywhere 
dotted with the picturesque villas of wealthy citizens, and 
among the great green groves of trees yon may occasionally 
see one covered with the most brilliant flowers. Between 
all course the yellow roads and paths, while the ocean gleams 
in purple haze, with a border of emerald shore. 

On continuing the ascent from the hotel you pass over 
many steep grades along a ridge so sharp that you may look 
down toward Rio on one side and toward the ocean on the 
other, and suddenly you come out of the woods on to the very 
brink of a precipice, with a sheer descent of nearly two thou- 
sand feet. Part of the road-bed has been blasted from the 
cliff, while some of it is built upon its very face. And here, 
to add to your terror, is the greatest declivity of the railway. 
It is a more appalling passage than any upon Mount Wash- 
ington or the Righi. Should any gearing yield, a rail or a 
nail break, or any sudden obstruction occur, nothing could 
prevent the train being hurled over the precipice. Soon 
after leaving this mauvais pas we have glimpses of the bay, 
the Organ Mountains beyond and above, and the capital here 
and there between its many hills at one's feet. The train 
halts about two hundred feet below the top, at a point be- 
yond which it would be impossible to advance except by a 
spiral tunnel of the rocky summit itself. The time con- 
sumed in the ascent is just an hour. The summit is nearly 
a bare granite rock, in which great steps have been cut to 
facilitate the visitor's progress. This, as well as a neigh- 
boring rock, nearer the bay and a little lower, has been sur- 
rounded by stout concrete walls. On the first rock there 
was a great, iron, octagonal belvedere, which was fastened 
deep down into the solid stone by enormous iron bars ; for 
though usually only mild trade-winds blow, sometimes there 
are gales which, at this height and exposure, would severely 
test any structure. The other and smaller inclosure— it is 



220 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

hardly ten feet in diameter — is uncovered, and is reached 
from the belvedere by steps cut in the rocks and a narrow 
passage bounded on either side by blood-curdling precipices. 
On all sides, in fact, except that on which you must approach, 
are sheer precipices of more or less bare rock, fifteen hun- 
dred to two thousand feet deep. A stone merely dropped 
over the crowning walls would, in most places, descend at 
once to the plains far below. The wonderful panorama un- 
folded in every direction is unsurpassed in magnificence any- 
where in the world. Nowhere is there so grand, so varied, 
so picturesque a view — mountains, hills, the ocean, a huge, 
island-studded bay, and a city of nearly four hundred thou- 
sand inhabitants. I had heard of the marvels of this mid-air 
vision, and had prepared my mind, but the reality almost 
took away my breath. I do not wonder that many a specta- 
tor has been moved to tears. There are doubtless vistas 
more awe-inspiring, such as those of the Himalayas or of the 
Bolivian Andes, but I know of none more emotionally im- 
pressive than this at Rio. It is a peep from a balloon which 
shows you at a glance how a great section of the globe has 
been made and ordered, how land and water are distributed, 
and how man, the innovator, has taken advantage of every 
physical fact to impose upon them his own designs. I could 
write a chapter on the great insight into the workings of 
nature and man as afforded by the top of Corcovado. The 
total panorama embraces at least fifty square miles, which, on 
a clear day, may be distinctly seen without the aid of tele- 
scope or field-glass. During my stay at Rio I made three or 
four visits to the summit of Corcovado, where I would sit for 
hours, always seeing something new, or something old which 
made a new impression. On one occasion I remember the 
air was of such crystalline brightness, and the sky so abso- 
lutely cloudless, that I saw, clearly outlined, the entire extent 
of the splendid Organ Mountains, and almost imagined that 
I saw to the end of eternity itself. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

STREET SCENES. 

A book might be written entitled "Street Scenes in 
Rio." The Brazilians, both men and women, spend a large 
part of their lives in the streets, which abound with the most 
striking sights and sounds for the new-comer. Walk along 
the Ouvidor — the principal business street — at almost any 
hour of the day, and you will find it full of men, not hurry- 
ing along in the excitement and worry of business activity, 
but standing and chatting in couples and in large and small 
groups as at a reception. "Walk along any of the private 
streets, and you will notice the heads, and most of the bodies 
also, of women hanging over the window-sills and minutely 
scrutinizing every passer-by. The curiosity of the Brazil- 
ians is not only inordinate, it is morbid. During business 
hours, in the busiest streets (if any of them are busy, as we 
understand the term in North America), you will find every 
doorway blocked by merchants, who are very closely engaged 
in staring into the streets. They do not seem to expect any- 
thing especial to happen — nothing does happen ; they simply 
gaze upon every passer-by as if he or she were the very first 
human being they had ever seen. Now, if the object of this 
doorway and street lolling were the hope or expectancy of 
seeing an occasional fire, a procession, a police arrest, or even 
a dog-fight, there might be a partial excuse for it, though 
business did suffer. But even during the small portion of the 
day that the merchants are in their stores, they do not pursue 
their vocations with any ardor or earnestness. They treat a 
customer with a most nonchalant air, as if they cared nothing 



222 AROUND AFD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

for his money in comparison with a quiet, lazy life. Some- 
times the shopkeepers reply at once, to your inquiry, that 
they have not the article which you wish, and, if afterward 
you discover it, they merely smile and arch their eyebrows. 
Frequently, if you ask for a particular thing, they will direct 
you to a large case or cabinet, and, opening it, motion you to 
search for what you have asked, while they are busy peering 
out the door, smoking a little paper cigar, or joking with a 
friend. No matter how much or how frequently you buy, 
they allow no discount. If you object to an extortionate 
price, they repeat it, and simply shrug their shoulders ; 
whether you buy or not is quite the same to them. Another 
exasperation to a foreign purchaser is to find a shop closed 
on account of its being one of the many feast-days, or per- 
haps the alleged business hours have not begun, or may be 
they are over. 

It is well understood that the members of the Latin race 
are nowhere averse both to see and be seen. They appear 
to have very much more time at their disposal than other 
races. As they are not generally a studious, reading people, 
possibly their lives would be very dull but for this idiosyn- 
crasy. At any rate, it is undoubtedly the most impressive 
trait of the Brazilian. It does not belong alone to the women, 
to the uneducated, to the lower classes ; it is a universal 
national characteristic. At the theatre I have seen a large 
part of the audience looking at each other, while an interesting 
performance was in progress. Frequently, on a railway-jour- 
ney, I have been the only passenger who would not leave his 
seat and rush to look out at a station, where again would be 
quite as many people drawn from their homes and stores by 
a similar irresistible inquisitiveness. Most of the houses are 
provided with window balconies, but the window-sills of 
those which are not are always covered with cushions, over 
which the occupants may lean in their acute interest in passing 
strangers, both animal and human. Near the gates of those 
rich people whose mansions are unavoidably situated at some 
distance from the street, pretty little summer-houses are built, 



STREET SCENES. 223 

where the family may sit and see. The most splendid house 
in Rio, if not in all South America, has been sacrificed to 
this peculiarity of excessive curiosity. The large three-story 
palace is built directly upon a dirty, hot, noisy, dusty street, 
with the paving-stones running quite up to the house-walls, 
and not a tree to screen or set off its cold, stiff stone-work. 
As the proprietor owns a great stretch of land extending 
from the street quite down to the bay and covered with splen- 
did old trees, fruit and flower gardens, walks, fountains, and 
statues, one wonders why this stately edifice was not placed 
in the center of the grounds, or at least near the bay. But 
the owner passes a good part of his time in the country, 
where there are not many people to stare at save his servants, 
and, like all the rest, when he is in town, he must pry into 
the streets. Yet, with all this fault-finding, I feel that some 
allowances must be made, especially for the women. Their 
servants relieve them of all household work ; there is not 
much marketing to do ; the houses contain but little furni- 
ture to care for ; they do not read ; and society ordains 
that, generally, unless accompanied by husband or other 
male relative, they must remain quietly at home. Without 
tastes to gratify, without resources in themselves, they are 
literally driven to pass quite one half of their lives hanging 
over a window-sill or lounging in a balcony. Many of the 
women of the upper classes, however, take to music — sing- 
ing and piano-playing — and the number of consecutive hours 
a day they will devote to practice shows clearly enough how 
straitened they are for other employment or enjoyment. A 
few become good pianists, but the majority are wretched 
strummers, going over and over again, day after day, frivo- 
lous French, Spanish, or Portuguese operas. The windows 
and doors of the houses being always open, the neighbors are 
apt to get a surfeit of these. In short, to be more truthful than 
gallant, I must describe the music practice of Rio as a public 
nuisance. And this music, with horn-tooting added, fre- 
quently continues all night in private (though more properly 
public) balls, so that sleep is an impossibility. It seems a 



224 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTE AMERICA. 

pity that the climate of Rio will prevent municipal edicts 
similar to those once issued in Weimar, Germany, to the 
effect that persons in the act of playing on the piano must 
not leave their windows open, and that every person wishing 
to give a musical party at night must pay a tax of twelve 
dollars. 

Another thing, which at once attracts the attention of the 
stranger in Rio is the sallow, half-dead look, the undersized 
and meager appearance of the Brazilians, at least of the white 
Brazilians. The negroes, on the other hand, are sleek, vig- 
orous, and jolly. But Rio has, in truth, a very hot and viti- 
ated atmosphere — for at least one half of the year — which 
slowly but surely saps the powers of both mind and body, 
and is particularly deadly to the European or North Ameri- 
can immigrant. It is sad to think that one of the fairest 
cities in the world is also one of the most fatal to health and 
even existence. Fortunately, there are sanitariums in the 
numerous hills about the city, and to these sick citizens often 
flee, literally for their lives. During the hottest season the 
Emperor, the court, and diplomatic body, and also Brazilian 
noblemen and capitalists, reside on the comparatively cool 
and wholesome heights of the Organ Mountains, at Petropo- 
lis or Theresopolis. Others, whose business requires their 
presence nearer the city, spend their evenings, nights, and 
mornings at one or the other of the neighboring hill resorts, 
such as Paineiras on the Corcovado, Tijuca, or near the Gavea. 
It is not alone the vitiated air during the day, but also the 
hot, stagnant nights which prevent sleep and weaken the sys- 
tem, while a lack of exercise and an excess of work and 
worry produce dangerous fevers and bowel complaints. 
This brings me to say a few words about the dreadful 
scourge, yellow fever, with which Rio has been so frightful- 
ly afflicted. Yellow fever in Brazil resembles the cholera in 
India in at least one respect : you may be perfectly well and 
strong one day, and the next not only be dead but buried. 
In a very bad season the death-rate from yellow fever in Rio 
has been as high as two hundred a day. In ordinary sea- 



STREET SCENES. 225 

sons, of seventy people who are attacked, at least twenty will 
be likely to die. Since its first appearance, some forty years 
ago, it has hardly missed a summer's visit of greater or lesser 
gravity. The drier the summer, the worse the fever. In 
fact, in very dry years, such as those of 1 873-' 74, the fever 
generally takes the form of an epidemic. The Brazilians, 
both white and black, suffer much less from it than foreign- 
ers, and among the latter those nations which happen to be 
represented there by the lowest classes, as the Italians and 
Portuguese, are decimated, owing to their filthy habits and 
the greater hardship of their existence. A sort of compen- 
sation is found, however, if compensation it can be called, for 
while the negroes are the freest from the ravages of fever, it 
is almost they alone who suffer from another terrible and 
prevalent disease, namely, small-pox. The great causes of 
the prevalence and virulence of yellow fever and small-pox 
at Rio are the bad drainage of the city, the dearth of fresh 
air occasioned by so many surrounding hills, and the stagna- 
tion of water and garbage along the indented shores of the 
bay. To these must be added the other charge of the dirty 
habits and hard and poor living of so many who become vic- 
tims. Latterly much has been done to improve the drain- 
age. An offer has been made by an English company to 
level one of the smaller hills back of the city, which would 
let in a great current of pure air, and also have a tendency to 
reduce the temperature several degrees. The stagnant water 
of the bay would hardly seem remediable. "With the habits 
of the people government has long since successfully grappled. 
Yery much has been said about the smell in the streets and 
their filthy condition. I, however, must say I generally 
found them well paved and clean, and the smells no worse 
than in other great cities similarly situated. It would, in- 
deed, be a model city which in the tropic zone was quite 
pure and sweet. 

Upon landing at Rio and making your first purchase, you 
are amazed at being told that some trifle you have selected 
will cost so many hundreds of this or even thousands of that ; 

15 



226 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and you are no less astounded when the bill of an ordinary 
account is presented you which contains five or six figures. 
The Brazilian currency is probably, at least in theory, the 
most infinitesimal of any in the world, except the antediluvian 
small shells called cowries, and circulating as money in Africa 
and India. Thus, the unit of the Brazilian monetary system 
is a real, written 0$001, which is equal in value to one twen- 
tieth of a United States cent (a cowrie would be equal to 
about one fiftieth) Of course, there is no such coin in circu- 
lation, the smallest being ten reis (the plural of real), a cop- 
per half-cent. There is, by-the-by, in circulation in Kindos- 
tan a copper coin of the value of one twelfth of an Ameri- 
can cent. In Brazil a copper coin of forty reis circulates, to 
which succeed two nickel coins of one hundred and two hun- 
dred reis respectively. Next comes the paper money in 
notes of one thousand reis, called a milreis ; two milreis, five, 
ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, one hundred, two, three, four, and 
a maximum of five hundred, which is thus distractingly ox- 
pressed numerically, 500$000 ; though there is an imaginary 
denomination, named conto, which is a thousand milreis and 
is thus written, 1: 000$. The par value of the paper milreis 
is equal to fifty-five American cents, but at the time of my 
visit it was at a discount, being only worth thirty-six ceuts. 
A little gold and silver were also in circulation. A strange 
prejudice is entertained in Brazil against silver coins ; and, 
while the dirtiest and most ragged bill is accepted without 
hesitation, the equivalent silver coin is received reluctantly, 
and got rid of as soon as possible. 

The market of Rio is situated directly upon the harbor, 
where are basins of cut stone for the boats which bring a 
great part of the produce from the islands and fertile shores 
of the bay. The market building is an enormous affair, cov- 
ering a large block, with several annexes on adjoining streets. 
Several open squares are filled with venders. The supply 
of fish and fruits was very profuse, as was to be expected 
from the tropical situation of the city. Among the fish I 
noticed the ray, skate, mackerel, prawns, and oysters. Among 



STREET SCENES. 227 

the fruits were oranges, lemons, bananas, pears, cherimoyas, 
and pineapples. In one part of the market were many live 
animals for sale, such as monkeys, pigs, dogs, cats, and mar- 
mosets ; also birds, such as flamingoes, parrots, pigeons, ma- 
caws, and Guinea-fowl. The greater number of the market- 
women seemed to be negresses, and great fat, glossy creatures 
they were. They wore turbans on their heads, strings of 
colored beads on their necks and arms, and chemises so loose 
as to be continually slipping off their jet-black shoulders. 
In Rio you do not have to go to the market for all your sup- 
plies ; some of them come to you, and in novel fashion. 
Thus you frequently have calls from a turkey-seller, a man 
who generally has a brood of twenty or thirty fowls, which 
he marshals with a long pole, keeps cleverly together, and 
so drives them from door to door for inspection and sale. 
You will also be amused at an early morning or late evening 
call of cows, which are driven from house to house and 
milked in measures of a size to suit each customer. The 
calves are tied to their mothers, but of course are compelled 
to wear leather muzzles. This saves the expense of horse, 
cart, and cans, and is a convenient method of obtaining pure 
milk. It ought to be introduced in those countries where 
the pump so frequently intervenes between cow and con- 
sumer, or where the favorite revival song of the milkman is, 
" Shall we gather at the river ? " 

I will conclude this chapter with an account of the great- 
est street scene of Bio — the Carnival — which, however, I 
did not witness until my return, on March 7th, from a long 
journey in the interior. Of course, every one knows that this 
festival of merriment and revelry occurs in most Roman 
Catholic countries during the week before Lent. In Rio the 
Carnival lasts three days. Business is wholly suspended. 
There are processions with music, and the streets are full of 
people in mask and gown, who dance and sing and blow 
horns, and make a generally disagreeable rumpus. The 
streets are dressed with the banners of all nations, little flags, 
and colored lanterns, are lined with plants in tubs and strewn 



228 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

with leaves. Formerly it was not safe to go into the streets 
without a rubber suit, as water was thrown from the houses 
upon passers-by. Various fruits were also hurled back and 
forth. To wear a high silk hat during the Carnival was 
simply to make a target of one's head. But the police de- 
termined to break up these scenes, which always cause dis- 
order and sometimes serious breaches of the peace. I ob- 
served that those who took part in the tawdry, uninteresting 
processions, and the dancing and monkey-play of the first 
day, were mostly negroes and mulattoes, of both sexes. The 
Carnival, as now celebrated at Rio, is not at all a saturnalia, 
but rather a season of jokes, some of them amusing and 
harmless, but others of a serious practical character. Al- 
though business was intermitted, and the whole city given 
over to festivity, I did not anywhere observe either man or 
woman under the influence of liquor. Nor were there any 
serious brawls or conflicts with the police, or any arrests 
made by them. During the festival all the theatres have 
auditorium and stage floored to a level, where at night mas- 
querade balls are given to the public. On the last of the 
three days, from noon onward, the streets were filled with a 
restless, swaying crowd, disguised in dominos and masks, 
blowing trumpets, talking in falsetto voices, while all the 
balconies, windows, and doors of the houses were crowded 
with onlookers, women and children being especially promi- 
nent. But neither those in the streets below nor balconies 
above appeared to be in holiday attire or fine dress, and for 
a very good reason. It is a custom of these people, instead 
of pelting each other with bon-bons, as in Rome and Mexico, 
to squirt perfumed water over one another. This is con- 
tained in little leaden vials, such as those in which painters' 
colors are packed, and great stands of them are held for sale 
all along the principal streets. The men, or rather boys, 
who are most wedded to this species of delirious sport, are 
rude enough to devote their attention to the passing girls 
and women, and I was glad to see these victims not infre- 
quently vigorously return the delicate attention. Often you 



STREET SCENES. 229 

might notice half a dozen streams playing simultaneously 
upon one person, whose clothes would be completely 
drenched. 

The grand procession started down the narrow Ouvidor 
about 5 p. m., and was two hours in passing a given spot. It 
was of course the conventional procession — mounted military 
bands, ladies and gentlemen of the seventeenth century, 
great floats with papier-mache figures caricaturing recent 
political events and their participators, skits of local nature, 
all sorts and conditions of goddesses, carriages filled with 
"merry maskers," burlesque actresses in tights, etc. The 
floats bearing comic representions of recent national events 
were received by the good-natured crowd with roars of laugh- 
ter. Just then some unsavory disclosures had been made 
regarding the treatment of slaves, and I remember a success- 
ful hit was that made by a hill, upon the top of which four 
negroes were engaged in singing and playing cards. Up this 
hill two slave-owners were striving to climb in pursuit of the 
negroes, but just as they were about to reach the summit, 
the effigies of two well-known abolitionists were shot up out 
of the depths before them, and the discomfited owners slid 
back at once to the bottom of the hill. This amusing scene, 
controlled by interior machinery, was frequently repeated as 
the procession wound along. King Carnival sat upon a gor- 
geous throne, quite thirty feet above the ground, and was 
drawn by eight gayly caparisoned white horses. As it 
became dark, several of the streets were lighted by their 
circlets of gas, passing under which the vari-colored train 
made a very pretty spectacle. The procession kept winding 
on, up one street and down another, till it was time for the 
various balls to begin. Enormous crowds, which had just 
seen it pass one point, would rush off to another street and 
take position to watch it again. Their interest seemed never 
to flag, nor did the vivacity of those taking part in the 
pageant. During the night I visited half a dozen of the 
public balls, and found everywhere the greatest enthusiasm 
and gayety. At each theatre were large bands, but they 



230 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

played very inferior dance-music. There were as many 
spectators as dancers, the boxes and galleries always being 
crowded. The maskers presented small variety in costume, 
and few attempted to act the characters assumed. At nearly 
all the theatres a sort of fandango or cackuca, a lively na- 
tional dance, was extremely popular. It consisted of wrig- 
gling and suggestive posturing rather than of dancing, and 
its evolutions were extremely vulgar, not to say indecent ; 
but so strong is custom that those in the boxes, who were 
evidently ladies, watched without flinching, and with great 
interest, those upon the floor, who certainly were not ladies. 
Negroes and mulattoes everywhere predominated. The 
childish delight and extraordinary gayety of these partici- 
pants, unprompted by liquor, and unflaggingly kept up all 
night, were undoubtedly the most striking characteristic of 
this Rio Carnival. Yet every one was lamenting that it was 
not what it used to be — that the pomp and mummery were 
only a dim reflection of the mirthful, happy days gone by. 
But is not the whole Carnival scheme quite out of place in 
the civilization of to-day ? It would seem more at home in 
the middle ages. 




A Part of the Avenue of Royal Palms. 



CHAPTER XXYIL 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 

The famous Botanical Gardens are reached by tramway, 
at a distance of about six miles in a southwesterly direction 
from the central part of the city. You pass for a long dis- 
tance along the shore of the bay, through streets of the ele- 
gant country-houses owned by Rio merchants, each of a dif- 
ferent style of architecture, and all surrounded by beautiful 
inclosures of trees, fruits, and flowers, with ornamental stat- 
uary and fountains. Some of the houses are faced with 
pretty tiles in various patterns, others are covered with the 
red tiles similar to those generally used upon the roofs, but 
all are ornamented with raised stucco-work of medallions, 
tracery, and arabesque borders, in diversified gay tints. The 
great Sugar-Loaf Peak, near the entrance of the harbor, as 
we approached seemed composed of solid granite, with no 
vegetation save a little grass. It is always a striking feature 
in the everywhere-romantic scenery of Rio Bay. You can 
hardly believe that it is not artificial, contrived and made by 
human skill and labor, a monument of some other and great- 
er Cheops. Leaving the bay, we turned to the west, with 
the rocky needle of Corcovado upon our right and ahead 
great wild peaks, one of them, called the Gavea, rising aloft 
in the form of an enormous square tower. The road con- 
tinued to be bordered with charming villas and brilliant gar- 
dens, as our team of mules bore us briskly along at the rate 
of six miles an hour. I have never seen animals in better 
condition anywhere ; but the tram company can afford the 
outlay, for its stock is at a premium of four hundred per 



232 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

cent. "We were soon skirting a great bay, with a range of 
hills between us and the ocean, and this brought us almost 
directly under the Corcovado, which here presents a sheer 
precipice of gray rock. Not very far distant I spied a part 
of the great avenue of palms, from which the Botanical Gar- 
dens derive their chief glory. 

The gardens are upon level ground, near a bay or inlet 
of the sea, and are surrounded by the wildest of mountain 
scenery, a grand setting for the wonders and beauties of na- 
ture as here cherished and displayed by man. Directly fac- 
ing the entrance-gate extends for nearly half a mile the cele- 
brated avenue of royal palms, and crossing it at right angles, 
parallel with the street, is another avenue of a little less 
length but hardly less splendor. The main avenue consists 
of a hundred and fifty trees, placed thirty feet apart, ar- 
ranged in a double row, inclosing a path twenty feet wide. 
I say " inclosing," for as you look up the avenue you see two 
gigantic walls of gray wood, solidly roofed by huge green 
tufts. It is a living arborescent gallery, superior to any ever 
created by an Aladdin's lamp. These palms have an aver- 
age height of eighty feet, and an average diameter at base of 
trunk of three feet. A neatly graveled walk leads between, 
and where the avenues intersect stands a pretty fountain. 
As you walk along the noble passage, you look upward be- 
tween the giant trunks at the distant mountains, at the blue 
sky, at the sea. Each produces a distinct effect. You con- 
trast these forest monsters with the pygmy shrubs and flow- 
ers, and it seems as if the palms belonged to some other 
sphere, as if this verdant corridor led to the mansion of the 
gods. Though these royal palms are the special boast of 
the Botanical Gardens, it should be known that they con- 
tain also what is probably the finest collection of tropical 
flora in the world, excepting only that at Buitenzorg, near 
Batavia, in the Island of Java. The climate agrees with 
everything imported, though the enormous empire itself sup- 
plies nearly every exhibited species. The picturesque ar- 
rangement of the plants has been effected with but little 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 233 

artificiality", and in a way more instructive and pleasing than 
I have seen elsewhere. The contrasted plants alone add 
great variety to the scenery. Sometimes an avenue is lined 
for a distance with similar trees, then with others ; next with 
one species on one side and another on the opposite ; after- 
ward in clumps, no two alike; and finally in clumps all 
alike. For the professional botanist, a visit to this ordered 
Eden would be like a foretaste of paradise. Though but a 
very mild sort of amateur myself, yet during my long stay 
at Rio there was no week in which I did not at least once 
wend my way thither, and roam enraptured through the 
miles of labyrinthine verdure. 

Of the number of interesting plazas in Bio perhaps the 
first would be the Campo Sant' Anna, or Acclimation Square, 
on the sides of which are the Senate, the Mint, the National 
Museum, the municipality building, and the station of the 
great Dom Pedro II. Railway. The little park is wholly arti- 
ficial, the ground having originally been quite level, but it 
now presents a beautiful series of hills and hollows, lakes 
and copses, lawns and flower-beds. In one place is an enor- 
mous heap of rocks, over which tumbles a small waterfall 
into a pond filled with pretty gold-fish. The interior has 
been fashioned into a great cavern, in which you see coun- 
terfeit stalagmites and stalactites, water dripping into dark 
pools, streams here, cascades there, paths up, down, and 
winding around, with irregular patches of light and shadow. 
Clumps of plants have been scattered about the exterior, and 
the whole appearance, both without and within, is that of 
perfect naturalness. Trunks of trees bridge the ponds, as if 
accidentally fallen there. The whole arrangement, which at 
a short distance would deceive the most acute observer, has 
been constructed from stone and cement, under the direction 
of a German savant. The Cascade Grotto, as it is called, is one 
of the particular sights of Rio, which a resident is sure to ask if 
you have seen. Every Sunday afternoon a large military band 
plays in the center of this park, while the heau-monde of the 
city promenade up and down the smoothly graveled walks. 



234 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

On the west coast of South America, the Church is very 
powerful and influential, especially in Ecuador and Peru ; 
but on the east coast there not only seem to be comparatively 
few churches, but these few are not much attended even by 
women. Certainly of all countries Brazil is the least under 
the control or influence of the priesthood. The mass of the 
people ignore them, while by the more educated classes they 
are treated with contempt, as in Guatemala and Mexico. In 
Rio I have frequently gone into half a dozen churches of a 
morning and found not a score of people in all of them, and 
this at the customary hours of worship. I have occasionally 
heard mass celebrated before half a score of people, and have 
seen an entire altar of priests going through their service 
with no audience save a single bored verger, who at once 
removed his eyes from the ceremony and riveted them upon 
me until my departure. 

One day, at one of the largest and handsomest churches of 
the metropolis — that of San Francisco de Paula — I attended 
a grand requiem for the repose of the soul of the then re- 
cently deceased Ferdinand II. of Portugal, the brother-in- 
law of the Emperor of Brazil. The imperial family, nobil- 
ity, diplomatic corps, senators and representatives, high offi- 
cers of the government and of the army and navy, were all 
present in court dress, with a profuse display of stars, 
crosses, medals, and ribbons. The church was draped in 
deep mourning, outside and inside, with frequent recurrences 
of the royal cipher " F. II." Facing the sacred edifice, a 
regiment of troops, with full band, was drawn up. Upon 
the arrival of the various royalties in their state carriages, the 
troops presented arms, and the band played the national 
anthem, while the huge bells tolled in the massive towers 
above. A large crowd was assembled, but no enthusiasm, 
no cheering, simply curiosity, was displayed. For a solemn 
mass this was undoubtedly becoming behavior. In the cen- 
ter of the church had been erected a lofty catafalque, covered 
with crimson and gold velvet, with appropriate badges of 
mourning, three rows of great candles in gilt candlesticks, 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 235 

and two rows at either side upon the floor. A fine orchestra 
assisted impressively the gloriously chanted mass. The arch- 
bishop and bishops officiated in full canonicals. Of course, a 
eulogy was pronounced upon " F. II." The ceremonies had 
a grand pictorial and emotional effect. The simple black 
dress of the civilians, the brilliant uniforms and court dresses 
of the others, the rich brocaded robes of the priests, the som- 
ber ornamentation of the church, the drooping flags and ban- 
ners, the arms of Portugal everywhere displayed in conjunc- 
tion with those of Brazil, all blended together with innumer- 
able soft and harmonizing lights, produced a scene that excited 
the most solemn attention and feeling. 

The wonderfully picturesque situation and surroundings 
of Rio, added to the general sights and scenes of its business 
quarters and dwelling suburbs, at first rather overshadow its 
public edifices — for so large and wealthy a city there are, in 
fact, but few remarkably handsome large buildings — but, on 
the other hand you soon learn that their contents are valuable 
and interesting or their purposes useful and civilizing ; char- 
ity, amusement, information, instruction, are widely dis- 
pensed. 

One of the most splendid hospitals in the world is that 
called the Misericordia. It is larger and better appointed 
than the one at Lima, already described in these pages, 
though imposing rather from its vast size than from any 
special architectural merits. It covers an area of ten thou- 
sand square metres, is two stories in height, is built of granite 
and brick, and stands close to the shore of the harbor, whence 
refreshing breezes blow through its windows and wards to 
the several beautiful gardens of the interior quadrangles. 
The total capacity of the hospital is twelve hundred pa- 
tients, and it receives from twelve thousand to fifteen thou- 
sand a year. The general wards are free, but the hos- 
pital provides special accommodation and privacy for those 
willing to pay one dollar and a half per day. The inter- 
nal supervision of the hospital is in the hands of Sisters of 
Charity, each of whom has charge of a certain work or cer- 



236 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

tain portion of a ward. I obtained permission from the 
Mother Superior to inspect the hospital, and an official guided 
me continuously through all parts, from the reception-room 
and the splendid saloon of the emperor, where business 
meetings are held, to the dispensary, the instrument-room, 
the kitchen, the chapel, the operating-room, with an amphi- 
theatre of seats for attending medical students, the wards, the 
dead-house, and the dissecting- vault. Everywhere was the 
most scrupulous cleanliness, everywhere the most perfect 
order and discipline. The floors are of polished oiled wood, 
the wainscoting is of gay-colored tiles. The building seems 
all halls and doors and windows, as of course is necessary in 
so warm a climate. As the patients lie in their beds, some 
can look out over the bay and its shipping, with grand views 
of distant hills, while others have almost equally refreshing 
glimpses of the beautiful flower-gardens of the inner court- 
yards. There are wards for women and children, of course, 
as well as for men. The dispensary and chemical laboratory 
form a large department, and as many as five hundred people, 
not in the hospital, are frequently in one day supplied gratis 
with advice and medicine. 

As I entered the different sections, a Sister approached 
and conducted me through her sj)ecial department, giving 
me information in the most obliging manner. Many of 
these nuns were old, and some were masculine and coarse in 
appearance, but occasionally I met one of rare beauty and 
grace, who put to me question upon question about the great 
gay world from which she was separated in all but memory. 
I remember one in particular, whose sweetly soft black eyes, 
and sad, resigned air, called forth a feeling of mingled sym- 
pathy and admiration. Her secluded youth, beauty, and ten- 
derness haunted me for months. What baseness, what 
treachery, what terrible romance of love — I knew it must 
have been love — had brought her there ? I praised in no 
unstinted measure the perfect hospital and its noble work. 
" Ah, monsieur," she said, " only the great God knows how 
much good is done here." " Yes, ma bonne smut" I replied, 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 237 

with no flattery, " and it is due to you and the others, whose 
loving care, self-sacrifice, and ardor produce such grand 
results." If ever there was a class of women the world over 
who deserve the reverence, I would almost say devotion, of 
all men, it is the sweet and merciful Sisters of Charity. I 
never pass one of the " holy community " without an instinct- 
ive impulse to raise my hat in token of profound respect. 

One afternoon I visited the Academy of Fine Arts, and 
found nothing to say in praise of the building's exterior. 
Inside it is admirably adapted to its purpose, namely, the 
giving of instruction in the fine arts to youths of both sexes. 
It contains a picture and sculpture gallery, and many class- 
rooms for designing, drawing, painting, engraving, modeling, 
and embroidering. The prizes were to be presented to the 
yearly graduates that very evening, in an opera-house which 
is just across the street from the Academy, and I had no 
difficulty in obtaining an invitation. It was announced that 
the Emperor, who is a great patron of art — and, in fact, of 
education of all kinds — would be present, and would bestow 
the diplomas and medals upon the fortunate winners. I was 
glad to have such an opportunity to see a representative 
Brazilian audience, and also to observe the manner in which 
such ceremonies were conducted below the equator. The per- 
formance was advertised to begin at 8 p. m., and I went early, 
in order to inspect the theatre, which is styled the Dom Pedro 
II. I found it to be a large building, occupying an entire 
block, and facing upon a small open plaza. The front was 
brilliantly illuminated with gas-jets, and decorated with the 
flags of all nations. Above all was the monogram of the 
theatre, surmounted by the imperial crown in brightly flam- 
ing outlines. In the lobby, down-stairs, a military band of 
seventy-five mulatto boys made music which sounded admira- 
ble as it reverberated through the massive corridors. Two 
wide flights of granite steps led up to the parquette en- 
trances. Above were the portals to a balcony and two tiers 
of boxes. In front was a commodious foyer. The parquette 
was large, seating over a thousand, while the remainder of 



238 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the house, including " paradise," would hold perhaps four 
thousand. The interior was gayly ornamented in various 
colors, and the entire house was dressed with flags, mottoes, 
wreaths of flowers, and ornamented gas-jets. Above the 
entrances was a large box set apart for the princess royal and 
family. To the right of the stage was the Emperor's box, 
brilliantly draped in crimson and blue velvet, bordered and 
studded with gold-lace ornaments. Above was a huge gilded 
crown. The audience was already half seated when I ar- 
rived, and the enormous stage was filled with the pupils of 
the Academy, the boys dressed in plain black, the girls in 
white, with red sashes. A pretty effect was produced by 
arranging them in different groups. Next the foot-lights 
was a row of tables, draped and flower-dressed, and intended 
to hold the diplomas and medals. Behind these tables sat 
the professors of the institution, nearly all of them displaying 
numbers of miniature orders, and many wearing medals sus- 
pended by crimson ribbons from their necks. As regards 
the audience, the utmost license of dress prevailed. Some of 
the ladies were in ball-dresses of the lightest, daintiest shades, 
and attended by much-decorated gentlemen in " dress-suits." 
Bnt by far the greater number of ladies wore dark clothes 
and hats, and were escorted by gentlemen in ordinary after- 
noon costume. The number of glittering orders and plainer 
ribbons and rosettes scattered about the house was profuse. 
But perhaps the most noticeable feature to a stranger was 
the variety of complexion to be seen — ranging from the pale 
white of the foreigner to the delicate brown of the Portu- 
guese and the tan of the Brazilian, and gradually darkening 
through the Creoles to the mulattoes, and finally to the black- 
est black of the negroes. All were mixed together — both 
out of and in the boxes — on terms of the most perfect equal- 
ity. The blacks have crossed so much with the Portuguese 
blood, and miscegenation has gone so far, that many years 
ago, when it was proposed, in taking the census of the empire, 
to classify the whites and blacks, it was found impossible to 
determine the color line. It took me all the evening to get 




Four Pretty Sisters. 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 239 

accustomed to the novelty of the sight presented in the Dom 
Pedro II. Theatre. 

I asked a gentleman to keep my seat, and rushed to a bal- 
cony of the foyer just in time to witness the arrival of the 
Emperor. Thronged about the theatre, listening . to the 
music, was a large crowd, who I supposed would hail his 
Majesty's arrival with wild huzzas and much waving of hats. 
Fancy my surprise when I heard not a single cheer ! First 
came, at a tremendous pace, two brilliantly uniformed hus- 
sars, who cleared the way, then two more, and then the Em- 
peror in a close coach drawn by six gayly caparisoned mules, 
the leaders ridden by postilions, the wheelers driven by a 
gorgeously liveried coachman and attended by footmen be- 
hind. A score of hussars, at the side and rear of the coach, 
completed the escort. His Majesty generally appears in 
public attended by the Empress or some ladies of the impe- 
rial family or household, but on this occasion he was accom- 
panied only by his chamberlain in court uniform, with a 
great silver and diamond star blazing upon his breast. The 
Emperor himself was dressed wholly in black, with the 
" grand crown " of the Southern Cross and the button-hole 
decoration of the Golden Fleece. He was received by the 
Council of the Academy, and escorted to the imperial box. 
And now a still greater surprise was in store for me. Not 
more than twenty people in the great audience rose as his 
Majesty entered and approached the front of his box, nor 
was there one loyal shout or applause of any kind. Naturally 
the Emperor did not bow in recognition of such a cold recep- 
tion, but instead sat himself down and quietly surveyed the 
stage and auditorium. This was truly a democratic manner 
of receiving the head of a great empire. Even a President 
of a republic would have had a courteous recognition of some 
sort or other. A little balcony had been built in front of 
his Majesty's box, with stairs leading to the stage, up which 
the recipients were to go to receive their diplomas and 
medals. At the foot of the stairs were stationed, as a guard 
of honor, two little boys in uniform and with muskets. 



240 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

These juveniles were relieved at intervals of half an hour 
throughout the evening, and caused some merriment to the 
audience, when, forgetting their parts, they indulged in 
little disputes directly before the Emperor, who himself had 
to laugh on one occasion when one of the Liliputian warriors 
refused to be relieved, doubtless wishing to see the whole 
show from such a prominent position. The performance 
began with the orchestra playing the national anthem, the 
Emperor and the audience standing meanwhile. As per- 
formed by orchestra this hymn is certainly not very inspirit- 
ing, but I heard it rendered afterward by the military band, 
and found it quite another composition. Then there was a 
terribly long-winded and florid oration read by a young Por- 
tuguese professor. It dealt with art in general and in par- 
ticular, foreign modern art, Brazilian art, ancient art, and so 
on, for over an hour, as only an orator of the Latin race can 
gabble, until half the audience were asleep, the other half 
chatting and laughing, and the Emperor looking terribly 
bored, and doubtless wishing he was at home with his well- 
beloved books. At last the young man stopped, and there 
was great applause from those awake because he had con- 
cluded, but the fellow vainly bowed as if it were intended as 
a compliment. However, the noise woke up the sleepers, 
and the programme proceeded with the distribution of diplo- 
mas and medals. This also was drawn out in a ridiculous 
fashion and to a wearisome extent. Two little children, one 
dressed as a sprite, the other as a Neapolitan boy, carried, 
upon silver trays, the diplomas and medals, one by one, up 
to the Emperor, while the names were called off in succes- 
sion by one of the professors, and the recipients had to make 
their way from all parts of the great stage, hoping to arrive 
simultaneously with their prizes. About fifty were thus 
tediously bestowed on the boys and then upon a like num- 
ber of girls, an hour being spent in doing what might have 
been much better done in five minutes. After the young 
men received their testimonials, the orchestra played the sad- 
dest, slowest, and faintest symphony I ever heard at any 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 241 

celebration. It sounded like a dirge over the death of art. 
The audience had stood enough already, and at this began to 
dribble out. The only clever thing of the evening was the 
recitation of a short original poem by a well-known local 
poet. This was delivered, singularly enough, from one of 
the boxes, but not from a central proscenium-box, as should 
have been the case. In graceful terms he complimented the 
founder of the Academy, and thanked the Council for their 
work. Several gold medals were then conferred on those 
professors who, during two consecutive years, had committed 
no more than five breaches of the rules of the Academy. It 
looked almost as if the supply of medals was excessive, and 
they were trying to unload stock. At this stage the poor 
bored Emperor took himself off, bowing several times to the 
audience, which this time at least was civil enough to rise. 
As his Majesty was driven away, the military band in the 
lobby gave the national hymn in grand style. Most of the 
audience now left, though a concert of half a dozen selec- 
tions was still to be given by pupils of the Academy. So 
cold an audience, from beginning to end, I never saw, but 
afterward, at comic operas, 1 found the citizens only too lav- 
ish with enthusiasm and applause. 



16 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

ENVIRONS OF KIO. 

Among the most noteworthy of the city's public institu- 
tions is unquestionably the National Library. It is located 
in a plain three-story building, in the southern part of the 
city, opposite the pretty little park called the Passeio Publi- 
co. The collection of books is very rich, and numbers about 
a hundred and fifty thousand, in all languages, and mostly in 
costly leather bindings. There are many cases of rare manu- 
scripts and literary curiosities. The old Jesuitical manu- 
scripts are regarded as of especial value, as well as those de- 
voted to the early history of Brazil. The collection of the 
earliest-printed books is large and valuable, as is also that 
relating to the early history of Portugal and Spain and their 
American colonies. A splendid collection of rare engravings, 
one of Brazilian coins and medals, and many cases of foreign 
coins invite attention. Two large cabinets are exclusively 
devoted to valuable editions of the " Lusiad," by the Portu- 
guese poet Camoens. There are, besides, many paintings 
and marble busts, and among the latter one of Camoens, with 
his sightless eye only too graphically represented. This li- 
brary is open every day, and free to all, but for consultation 
only. Its reading-room is provided with the electric light, 
an unwise innovation. 

But to myself perhaps the most interesting of all the 
public institutions of Rio was the National Museum, a plain 
though large two-story building, facing the park of Sant' 
Anna, in a central part of the city. The collection of the 
museum is good and very comprehensive, the three kingdoms 



ENVIRONS OF RIO. 243 

of Nature being well represented. The original purpose was 
the creation of a museum of natural history, but the institu- 
tion was soon made a receptacle for all kinds of curios and 
objects of scientific and technical interest. From, time to 
time it has been enriched with collections made by foreign 
naturalists traveling in Brazil, and by valuable contributions 
from native savants. To some, its most interesting and 
noticeable feature is its ethnographical and archaeological de- 
partment. The civilized and uncivilized Indians of Brazil 
may be studied by means of paintings, photographs, and a 
varied collection of their war, chase, and domestic utensils, 
implements, and manufactures. The reminiscences of the 
prehistoric tribes of Peru and Bolivia, as well as of Egypt 
and Syria, are interesting. Time should be given to a fine 
collection of pottery from the Island of Marajo and the 
lower Amazon, in which the evolution of ornamental de- 
signs has been carefully studied and abundantly proved by 
Prof. Orville A. Derby, an eminent American scientist, now 
for a number of years at the head of one of the great sections 
into which the museum is divided — that of mineralogy, geol- 
ogy, and paleontology. I spent a good deal of time at this 
museum, becoming well acquainted with the director, a Bra- 
zilian gentleman, Dr. Ladislau Netto, who has made some 
very valuable and interesting studies upon Brazilian archae- 
ology. He kindly presented me with some of the huge vol- 
umes published by the museum, and profusely illustrated by 
excellent engravings and colored lithographs, all made in Rio 
Janeiro. In one of these splendid volumes I noticed a con- 
tribution upon the " Ethnology of the Valley of the Ama- 
zons," by my lamented friend the late Prof. C. F. Hartt, 
who was chief of the Geological and Geographical Survey of 
Brazil, and in whose untimely death, some years ago, Science 
lost one of her most learned and most earnest devotees. The 
present head of this important survey is Prof. Derby, who 
went out to Brazil originally as one of Prof. Hartt's assist- 
ants. A fine library of natural history occupies a number of 
rooms of the museum building, and there is a large hall 



244 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBICA. 

which is used for the delivery of lectures. The museum has 
a list of active members, and elects as foreign associates those 
who have specially distinguished themselves in explorations 
or studies of a natural history character. 

The Astronomical Observatory, over which I was polite- 
ly shown by the director, is situated on Castle Hill, over- 
looking the bay and about the center of the shore-line of the 
city. Most of the offices and rooms of the observatory are 
reared upon the massive walls and columns of an old Jesuit 
convent, which furnishes admirable bases for the proper ad- 
justment of delicate scientific instruments. I climb the hill 
by a winding, paved road, and enter the court-yard through a 
quaint old gateway. Here are the laboratory and the photo- 
graphic rooms. The laboratory, besides a good outfit of ne- 
cessary chemicals and instruments, has a small but valuable 
collection of minerals. Here also is a large room filled with 
astronomical and other scientific machines, of every size and 
character, mostly of French manufacture. Among them I 
noticed some splendid spectroscopes. Several of the larger 
of the astronomical instruments would be mounted, had the 
director the necessary room. Ascending several long flights 
of stairs, and finally a circular staircase in a tower, we reach 
the roof of the old convent, upon which stand the great iron 
dome with its nine-inch refractor, a room for transit instru- 
ments, the library, the director's and the secretary's offices, 
and a lofty iron tower, where the electric apparatus, wind- 
vanes, gauges, etc., are mounted. From the open platform 
an extensive view may be enjoyed of the bay and mountains, 
the ocean through the entrance to the harbor, and the city 
lying around and below. A sea-breeze almost continually 
freshens this place. The director showed me the photograph 
of a flash of lightning that he had recently taken. In his 
office were many American works on astronomy. The libra- 
ry was small, but contained some very valuable books, mostly 
in rich leather bindings. The observatory has published two 
large volumes, descriptive of its buildings, its outfit, and 
some of its most important work. These volumes are illus- 



ENVIRONS OF BIO. 245 

trated by very fine colored lithographs, made in Eio. The 
observatory also publishes infrequently monographs on spe- 
cial researches. It is, besides, charged with the duties of 
announcing meridian time every day, regulating the chro- 
nometers of the Marine and War Departments, and publish- 
ing daily meteorological observations. Work has been be- 
gun on a chart of the heavens, from which valuable observa- 
tions are expected. 

In Rio a great number of associations promote the prog- 
ress of science, arts, and letters. Among these, the first 
place belongs to the " Historical, Geographical, and Ethno- 
graphical Institute of Brazil." This was founded half a cent- 
ury ago, with the view of studying the national history, and 
collecting, analyzing, and publishing documents of historical 
value. I visited the offices and rooms, which are large and 
airy, with tables for members. The library contains some 
seven thousand volumes, and a large and valuable collection 
of manuscripts and maps relating to the history of Brazil. 
Two other rooms are filled with the publications of the In- 
stitute and files of its exchanges. The Institute holds fort- 
nightly meetings, which are generally presided om* by the 
Emperor. It publishes a review, which annually forms a 
volume of one thousand pages. 

The highest peak back of Rio, to the westward, is called 
Tijuca. In company with Prof. Derby, of the " Museu Na- 
cional," and Mr. A. J. Lamoureux, the able editor of the 
" Rio News," I one day made a trip to it, and returned by 
way of the Gavea, toward the ocean and the Botanical Gar- 
dens. Our first objective point, however, was Whyte's Hotel, 
a sort of sanitarium situated high up among the hills, like the 
hotel on the Corcovado, and much patronized in the hot 
season by the debilitated foreigners of Rio. We first took a 
tram-car through the suburbs, a distance of about six miles, 
passing along a canal which had been originally built with 
the intention of thus floating ships from the bay around into 
the heart of the city, but the scheme did not prove success- 
ful, and the canal is now little better than a dirty, stagnant 



246 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

sewer, both unhealthy and an eye-sore. Then came a very 
pleasant change — a broad, paved street, lined with handsome 
country-houses ensconced in beautiful gardens of every spe- 
cies of tropical vegetation. During the latter part of this 
section, the road became so steep that we took on another 
team of mules ; and afterward, leaving the tram, we were 
transferred to large stages drawn by four stout mules, and 
thus started up a narrow valley, the road zigzagging in such 
an extraordinary fashion that it seemed much of the time as 
if we had turned back. This part led through a beautiful 
forest, and we were able to obtain occasional glimpses of Rio 
and the delightful bay behind and below us. Whyte's Hotel 
— a series of long, narrow, low houses, nestling at the bottom 
of a little valley surrounded on every side by woody hills — 
was reached in two hours from Rio, a distance of some ten 
or twelve miles. This famous old hostelry, which formerly 
was so exclusive that travelers were admitted only through 
letters of introduction, does not, as might be imagined, com- 
mand a view of Rio and the bay, or even of the ocean, or, in 
fact, of anything especial. It is situated in a deep hollow, 
on the opposite side of the pass from the capital, and about 
twenty minutes' walk from the ocean. It is an ordinary 
country hotel, though with excessively high charges in every 
department. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about the 
place is a great swimming-bath. A short distance in the 
woods a rapid stream runs through a cemented tank, about 
fifty feet square and five feet deep. The water is deliciously 
cool and refreshing. It flows from the tank in a pretty 
waterfall, which is also useful as a douche. 

From the hotel the ascent of the peak of Tijuca may be 
made in about two hours. You go on mule-back or horse- 
back to within about two hundred feet of the summit. Excel- 
lent roads for either riding, driving, or walking, wind about 
the hills in every direction. The country hereabout is a sort 
of government park, and besides the capital graveled roads, 
which have been flanked with beautiful plants, shrubs, and 
flowers, there are waterfalls, grottoes, ponds, flower-gardens, 



ENVIRONS OF BIO. 247 

and labyrinths. More than half the distance to the summit 
of the peak can be accomplished by carriage. The roads 
all pass through dense forests, so that one has constant shel- 
ter from the powerful sun. The side on which the bridle- 
path approaches Tijuca, shows it to consist of an enormous 
vertical wall of smooth rock. You pass this, however, and 
then wind on and up to a spot where there is a rocky preci- 
pice, at the foot of which you stand. Here the horse or 
mule must be left, and the remainder of the ascent made by 
means of wooden stairs and steps cut in the face of the bare 
rock. This part of the way is guarded by two huge iron 
chains. Arrived at the summit — three thousand three hun- 
dred and sixty feet above the sea — the view is remarkably 
fine, but it is a view of peaks and valleys and the ocean. 
You are able to see but a small part of the city of Rio. In 
the afternoon we took horses and rode around by the way of 
the great, table-topped peak — the Gavea — to the Botanical 
Gardens, and so back to the capital. This route gave us a 
fine look at the Gavea, with its perpendicular walls of smooth 
rock. Though apparently altogether unscalable, it has sev- 
eral times been ascended. At the summit of the pass, be- 
tween the Gavea and the Corcovado, we found an opening in 
the trees and a pavilion whence we obtained a superb pros- 
pect over ocean and bay, and the suburb of Botafogo. This 
is styled the " Chinese Yiew," as the road from here down to 
the level of the Botanical Gardens has been built by Chinese 
laborers. It is a capital road, broad and with a very slight 
incline It runs through a magnificent bit of primitive forest, 
and affords many charming little visions of land and sea. We 
passed one of the great city reservoirs, skirted the rear of the 
Botanical Gardens, taking a glance at the splendid avenue of 
royal palms, examined the large new cotton-factory, peered 
up at Corcovado, twenty-three hundred feet above us, and 
finally reached the tram line, which soon deposited us once 
more at our homes, after an absence of but twenty-four 
hours. 

Of all the mountain resorts in the neighborhood of Rio, 



248 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Petropolis is the best patronized and the most famous. It is, 
in fact, the summer capital ; for the Emperor and his house- 
hold, the diplomatic corps, and the native aristocracy, go 
there to escape heat and fever risks. The wealthy Rio 
merchants also keep their families there, either in private 
cottages or hotels during the hot season, they themselves 
going in and out of town every day. A long, narrow, single- 
decked, paddle-wheel steamboat carried me in a northern 
direction across the beautiful Bay of Rio. In the front part 
of this steamer was a double row of seats, separated by a 
central aisle, as in the American railway-carriages. In the 
stern was a good restaurant, and space for the second-class 
passengers. Leaving the city, the scenery of the bay was in- 
describably charming. The line of hills containing the 
Corcovado, Gavea, and Tijuca, shrouded in mist, rose, inky 
black, against a clear blue sky. The vari-colored houses of 
the city, quaint of architecture, interspersed by a score of 
knolls, glowed in the dazzling sunshine and presented an 
entirely new picture at every mile we added to our course. 
The bright-green waters of the bay, dancing before a fresh 
southerly breeze, were covered with an enormous fleet of 
steamers and merchant-ships. Lighters and other boats were 
busy carrying freight and passengers to and from the wharves. 
"We skirted the eastern shore of the great Governor's Island 
— a much larger island than its New York namesake, and 
very different in appearance. It is undulating and wooded, 
with many pretty little bays and villages, and scattered fac- 
tories and dwelling-houses. To our right were numerous 
small islands, mostly uninhabited, and with their tall palms 
and other trees all bent in one direction, thus plainly indicat- 
ing the course of the most prevalent wind. There seemed 
everywhere a great depth of water, as we frequently passed 
within fifty feet of an island. The Organ Mountains, extend- 
ing along the northern side of the bay, were veiled in mist, and 
we could see only the lower and nearer hills, covered with a rich 
vegetation, and several of them crowned by a church, a con- 
vent, or a farm-house. Leaving Governor's Island, we headed 



ENVIRONS OF RIO. 249 

directly north to the station of the railway, called Maua, in 
honor of the viscount of like name, who has in many ways 
greatly helped the material progress of Brazil. Maua is 
twelve miles from Rio, and is simply a landing-place for the 
steamer, with the buildings of the railway service. A train 
of four cars awaited us. The cars were fitted with trans- 
verse benches made of straw, a side door admitting to each 
bench. The locomotives used are made in Philadelphia, the 
cars are of English make. The steamer passengers tilled the 
train. They appeared to be mostly business men, though 
there were also some ladies and children. We were quickly 
whisked eleven miles across a forest-clad plain, to the foot of 
the mountains, where our train was divided into two, run on 
the Riggenbach system. The road appears to mount directly 
upward through a sort of valley in the ridge, with very little 
turning, and with no specially steep slopes. The speed is 
greater than that upon any similar road I know of ; it is at 
least double that of the Corcovado Railway. One high iron 
bridge is crossed, but no great engineering obstacles present 
themselves. As we ascend, we occasionally obtain magnifi- 
cent views of the plain behind us, and of fine rocky peaks 
and cliffs before us. Not, however, until we near the summit 
of the pass — called Raiz do Serra (Root of the Ridge) — does 
the wonderful splendor of the prospect become apparent. 
Then one can look down upon the brown track of the road, 
by which we have just mounted, as it runs through the dense 
green forests. We distinctly see the station at the foot of 
the ridge, and then the road crossing the plain to the bay ; 
and, carrying our eyes out over this, we notice first Governor's 
Island, and then far beyond we detect the Sugar-Loaf, Corco- 
vado, Gavea, and Tijuca. Rio can be recognized only on a 
particularly clear day. As we continue, the atmosphere be- 
comes pure and cool. Before the rack-road was built, it was 
customary to ascend the ridge by a capital macadamized road 
— a wonderful piece of engineering — of which you frequently 
catch glimpses in the ascent. A light coach, with powerful 
brakes and six mules, was used. At the summit of the serra 



250 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

— the cog-rail section is four miles long — the divided train is 
reunited, and a Philadelphia locomotive takes us quickly over 
the remaining two miles to the station of Petropolis and the 
eud of our journey. 

Our whole time from Kio was but two hours. At the 
station a great crowd had collected, a few to receive expected 
friends, but most merely to gratify an idle curiosity. Tout- 
ers for half a dozen hotels race up and down the platform, 
and omnibus and hack drivers shout at you over the low 
paling. One hears a different language on every side. It is 
like some famous Swiss resort. And this comparison is 
strengthened when you enter an omnibus and are driven up 
long avenues of shops and cottages, with small walled-in 
rivers flowing through the streets and wooded hills, and rocky 
peaks towering upward on every side. I am put down at 
one of the largest and best of the hotels of the place, the 
" Orleans," which stands on the western side of the town. It 
is set directly against the side of a hill which has been sliced 
down better to accommodate it, and bears in plaster letters, 
six feet long, its aristocratic name. From its piazzas may be 
had picturesque views of a part of the town and the hills 
beyond, the higher of which, being seemingly of rock, glow 
with a beautiful purple in the fading sunsets. At the time 
of my visit this hotel was fall of fashionable Rio people. 
Four or five foreign ministers, with their families, secretaries, 
and attaches, also make it their summer home. The days are 
passed in walks, drives, picnics, lounging, and flirting; the 
nights with music, dancing, and conversation upon the cool 
piazzas — as at other fashionable resorts the world over. 

The situation of Petropolis, among a cluster of knolls, is 
romantic and beautiful. It is about twenty-seven hundred 
feet above sea-level, and, though it is warm during the 
middle of the day, the nights are generally cool, and the 
air is always pure and wholesome. The streets are broad, 
and lined with trees. The houses are gayly painted 
and ornamented, and their grounds are a blaze of brilliant 
flowers. Then there are many beautiful drives and walks 



ENVIRONS OF RIO. 251 

to the neighboring peaks. The population numbers about 
ten thousand, among whom are many Germans ; and, in fact, 
Petropolis has much more the appearance of an old German 
town than of a Brazilian. The reason given for this is that 
some forty or fifty years ago a colony of about three thou- 
sand Germans located on this spot. 

The finest mountain scenery, the best climate, and prob- 
ably the most various and interesting vegetation are found 
in Theresopolis, a mountain valley about fifty miles in a 
northeasterly direction from Bio. There it is higher, drier, 
and cooler than in Petropolis. The sharp peaks of the Or- 
gan Mountains in the neighborhood of the former are among 
the first and greatest objects of interest to every stranger. 
Theresopolis is frequently called the " Switzerland of Bra- 
zil," and the grandeur and beauty of its mountain scenery 
certainly give it some claim to such an appellation. At one 
time it promised to be the summer capital, for it was the re- 
sort of diplomatists, distinguished strangers, and wealthy Bra- 
zilians long before Petropolis was created. The journey 
there is of some difficulty, though no fatigue. Three times a 
week a little steamer leaves Rio, on which you may cross to 
the upper end of the bay, to a little village called Piedade, 
whence a diligence runs across the country to the foot of the 
mountains in about four hours. Here it is customary to pass 
the night, and early in the morning ascend the serra on mule- 
back. Almost at the summit the trail passes near the " Fin- 
ger of God," whose sharp, inaccessible peaks are conspicuous 
from the city. You pass through a gap in the mountains 
into the little valley, in which, at a height of three thousand 
feet, Theresopolis is situated. It is only a straggling settle- 
ment, and has no first-class hotels at present, but it has a cli- 
mate that can not be excelled ; picturesque walks and rides in 
every direction ; elevated valleys where the ounce and tapir 
are still to be found ; and scenery which for sublimity and 
beauty probably has no rival in Brazil. 



CHAPTEE XXIX. 

THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 

One day I was driven in a tilbury about five miles north- 
west of the city proper, to the Emperor's palace of San 
Cristoval. It is situated within extensive grounds of much 
natural beauty, which have been laid out with good taste in 
winding avenues, lawns, artificial ponds, grottoes, fountains, 
and ornamental thickets. The site is a commanding one, 
and is well suited for an imperial residence. You pass two 
grand entrance-gates, and follow a very wide avenue direct- 
ly to the palace, a building of brick and stucco, three stories 
in height. Guards were stationed about, but the greater 
part of the edifice appeared closed, notwithstanding the pres- 
ence of the Emperor. His Majesty had held a reception the 
previous day at Petropolis, and this day, at six in the even- 
ing, he was to receive in Rio. I was honored with a private 
interview in the morning, being first ushered into a large 
waiting-room, and then into the chamberlain's office, a 
smaller apartment of similar character. His Majesty after- 
ward met me upon an inner corridor of the palace, attended 
but by a single aide-de-camp, who, however, immediately 
disappeared. The chamberlain mentioned my name and 
nationality, and his Majesty advancing shook hands cor- 
dially, asking me (in well-accented English) when I had left 
New York. The chamberlain, at a nod, left me alone with 
the Emperor. Dom Pedro II. is of a very striking figure — tall, 
broad-shouldered, erect, with a large, intellectual head, gray 
hair, and a flowing gray beard. He has grayish-blue eyes, 
which, though keen, are yet kindly in their steady gaze. 



THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 253 

His complexion is florid, his expression sober and dignified. 
He was simply clad in a black broadcloth " dress-suit," and 
wore on his breast the beautiful star of the Imperial Order of 
the Southern Cross, and in a button-hole the diamond and 
gold badge of that grand old historic order, the Golden 
Fleece of Austria and Spain. His Majesty always wears 
these decorations, but rarely any others, nor is he often seen 
in uniform or gala dress of any kind. He is very amiable, 
and altogether simple and democratic in his manners and 
tastes. At Rio he is generally seen in a carriage drawn by six 
mules, but at Petropolis he goes about on foot, attended by 
his chamberlain only. He gives no balls or dinners, but is 
always accessible to the public once a week, generally on 
Saturday evenings. He is especially noted for his tact, en- 
ergy, and humanity. He is, therefore, very popular, and 
much loved by all his subjects. He did me the honor of 
talking with me half an hour, chiefly about my proposed 
travels in Brazil, though he spoke also of being much pleased 
with his visit to the United States a few years ago, of his 
friendly reception by the press and public, and of the cordial 
hospitality of General Grant. At parting he shook hands 
with me in the most gracious manner, and invited me to visit 
him at his summer palace in Petropolis, where he was going 
the following day, and where I had the further honor of an 
interview a little later on. I did not have an opportunity 
to inspect any of the apartments of the San Cristoval Palace, 
but was told that, although generally quite plain, the rooms 
were fitted with French furniture, and opened upon court- 
yards filled with beautiful flowers. 

The Emperor speaks all European languages fluently, and 
his devotion to science and art is well known. He has, be- 
sides, high scientific attainments, and is a member of many 
learned societies in France and England. And I recall with 
especial pride that, on the occasion of his visit to the United 
States during our centennial celebration, he accepted "honor- 
ary membership" in the American Geographical Society, 
and at a special meeting in Chickering Hall made a little ad- 



254 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

dress which shows so fine a command of English that I give 
it entire : 

"Although sincere gratitude's voice is always silent, I 
will not hesitate to utter my thoughts to the American Geo- 
graphical Society for the honor it confers on me in the pres- 
ence of men so prominent in geographical science, and such 
indefatigable explorers of regions, where man, rivaling as it 
were with Nature, feels that labor is his greatest glory and 
most solid base of happiness. On so solemn an occasion, 
however, it is my duty to express how, in my country, we 
prize geographical studies, which bring to light its elements 
of wealth, and secure for it — I speak as a Brazilian, but with- 
out partiality — a brilliant future, and also make it useful to 
all nations, with which Brazil has always endeavored to main- 
tain a cordial friendship. I trust the American Geographi- 
cal Society will allow me to express here a feeling adieu to 
all the people of the United States, who welcomed me with 
so much kindness, and to explain to them at the same time 
how sorry I am that a motive, doubly regrettable, has not 
permitted my remaining longer among them, to see and ex- 
amine as much as I desired, notwithstanding the means 
employed by this great nation to overwhelm time." 

When, on the day appointed, I made my exit from the 
door of the railway-station at Petropolis, there stood upon the 
sidewalk, with but a single attendant, the most democratic of 
all sovereigns, the Emperor of Brazil, apparently out for a 
stroll, and stopping at the station to see the new arrivals, and 
nodding to acquaintances right and left in the most conde- 
scending manner. The imperial palace at Petropolis is a 
large, two-story building, with long, single-story wings, the 
whole made of brick and stucco, painted yellow and white, 
and of a style of architecture which recalls a Florentine 
villa. The interior is plain but commodious. The palace is 
surrounded by pretty gardens, walks, fountains, and pavilions. 
Not very far from here is the residence of the princess royal, 
not a very imposing house, but thickly encircled by masses 
of ever-blooming flowers. These Brazilian royalties gener- 




Tlie Empress of Brazil. 



TEE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 255 

ally " take the air " in barouches drawn by four mules, with 
postilions and a single mounted orderly. They are always 
the recipients of the most profound salutations, which, 
whether from peasant or prince, they always graciously 
acknowledge. His Majesty's life at Petropolis, as elsewhere, 
is a very active one. Besides his political and social duties 
and offices, he daily takes long walks and drives. He is also 
an expert horseman, and delights in athletic exercise. He is 
a great scholar, and at the time of my visit was especially 
interested in the study of Sanskrit. Even when riding 
through the streets of Rio in the imperial carriage, he gener- 
ally sits bareheaded, reading. In fact, his intellectual and 
physical activity are altogether phenomenal. I have just 
read, in a Portuguese newspaper, an account of his life in 
Paris, when on a recent visit to Europe for the purpose of 
restoring his health. The great astronomer, Camille Flam- 
marion, had been visited by the Emperor, accompanied by a 
suite of twenty people. Dom Pedro manifested much inter- 
est in the library, collections, and instruments of Flamma- 
rion's observatory. The gyrating dome contains a large 
equatorial telescope, an instrument of high precision, whose 
management was familiar to the learned monarch of Brazil. 
The man really the fashion in the metropolis of the French 
Republic was the Emperor. He lived in the Grand Hotel, 
admitted visitors, and talked to all intelligently and modestly. 
In general he reserved to himself the right to ask questions. 
He attended balls, frequented scientific institutions, and lost 
no opportunity of gaining knowledge. He saw all the nota- 
ble pictures and the great artists, he went to the conservatory, 
the race-course, the exchange, the opera. 

The Emperor was born in the palace of San Cristoval, on 
December 2, 1825, and began his reign in his fifteenth year 
— fifteen years after Brazilian independence — for his father, 
Pedro I., being unwilling to accept so liberal a Constitution, 
frankly expressed his sentiments, honorably abdicated, and 
retired to Portugal. Pedro II. was married in 1843 to an 
Italian princess, daughter of Francis I., King of the Two 



256 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Sicilies. The Empress is amiable, philanthropic, and very 
popular. The Emperor's heir is his only daughter, Princess 
Isabella, who has several times acted as regent. She is 
about forty years old, and is the wife of Count d'Eu, a grand- 
son of Louis Philippe. Brazil is a constitutional empire, the 
Legislature consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Depu- 
ties, members of the former being elected for life, and of the 
latter for four years. 

Brazil is the first state in size, enlightenment, and impor- 
tance in South America. It is nearly as large as all Europe, 
and larger than the United States before Alaska was acquired. 
It has vast resources — a fertile soil, immense pastures, great 
forests, and stores of minerals and diamonds. With one 
exception Dom Pedro's is the longest reign of any living 
monarch's, the accession of Queen Victoria preceding his by 
three years ; and it is during his reign, and through his exer- 
tions and influence, that Brazil has steadily grown in power 
and importance. The national finances are in a prosperous 
condition, railways have been built, telegraphs and cable-lines 
have been extended in every direction, the navigation of 
rivers has been promoted, slavery has been abolished, and 
free education has been made universal throughout the em- 
pire. Long life and prosperity, then, to Dom Pedro d' Alcan- 
tara, Constitutional Emperor and Defender of Brazil, whose 
jubilee year draws nigh ! 

I took the opportunity while at Rio to visit the largest 
ironclad in the Brazilian navy, which was then lying at 
anchor in the harbor. It was the steam-frigate Eiachuelo, 
the admiral's flag-ship. I found myself heartily welcomed 
at the gangway, and was presented to a lieutenant, who, 
having studied for some years in England, spoke the language 
fluently, and not only showed me all over the great man-of- 
war and explained everything that w 7 as new to me, but also 
invited me to remain to breakfast with himself and brother 
officers. The Eiachuelo was built in Chatham, England, and 
everything about her equipment, from stem to stern, is thor- 
oughly English. She is of six thousand tons burden, sharp 



THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL, 257 

at both ends, with three decks, three masts, two funnels, and 
three thousand horse-power, which enables her to steam six- 
teen knots an hour. Her length is three hundred feet, 
breadth fifty feet, depth thirty feet. She has two .turrets, 
upon which her armor is eleven inches in thickness. Else- 
where the thickness is eight inches. Her armament consists 
of four nine-inch Armstrong, four four-inch, and eighteen 
Nordenf elt guns. Upon her upper deck she carries a great 
iron torpedo-boat, and between decks she has several machines 
which shoot forth torpedoes by means of compressed air. 
Her crew complete numbers four hundred men. There are 
two guns pointing forward in the bow, and two in the stern 
directed backward. On either side, at a short distance from 
the bow, are the large turrets which, together with their mas- 
sive contents, are turned by machinery. The huge cannon 
are so nicely adjusted that a child can move them up or down, 
to the right or to the left hand. The frigate is every- 
where lighted by electricity. In short, every modern in- 
vention and improvement in gunnery, in machinery, and 
in domestic equipment has been supplied to this splendid 
ironclad. The Brazilian navy, however, is not a very exten- 
sive one. There were two other war-vessels in the harbor, 
one upon the stocks, and five absent on foreign service. 
Doubtless if Brazil felt the need of a larger navy, she would 
build it, just as the United States would do. Lying near the 
Riachuelo was a large double-turreted monitor, which I also 
visited. Here, however, I was not so fortunate. Finding 
no one who could speak either English, French, or Spanish, I 
was obliged to launch forth with such " crippled " Portuguese 
as I then possessed. The monitor was called the Javari. Her 
decks did not rise more than three feet above the surface of 
the water. Her length was about two hundred and fifty feet, 
her breadth a hundred, and her depth thirty feet. She had 
three decks, and was plated, including the upper deck, with 
five-inch armor. Her armament consisted of four ten-inch 
"Whitworth guns, two in each turret. This monitor is in- 
tended chiefly for harbor and river defense, though it can 
17 



258 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

safely visit the coast-ports ; but, if the sea is at all rough, 
she is half under water all the time. The hatches and other 
apertures have to be battened down, and she is driven through 
the water as fast as may be. Air for the men to breathe has 
to be forced below by machinery specially provided for the 
purpose. On such a voyage it is needless to add that all on 
board are thoroughly uncomfortable. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE PROVINCE OF SAIST PATJLO. 

In company with my good friends, Messrs. Derby and 
Lamoureux, I made a ten days' visit to San Paulo, the rich- 
est coffee province of Brazil. We went by the Dom Pedro 
II. Railway, and returned by steamer from Santos, an impor- 
tant commercial city and the chief port of San Paulo. The 
distance to San Paulo city, the capital of the province of 
like name, is three hundred and ten miles, and the running 
time of the daily express thirteen hours, including stops. 
The cars were built on a sort of compromise with the Ameri- 
can idea, though they, and also the locomotives, came from 
England. The start is made at the early hour of five in the 
morning, so as not to be obliged to travel at night, for fear 
of accidents. Our very long train was later on divided into 
several trains, each taking a branch road. The general direc- 
tion of our route was first northwest, until we had ascended 
the mountains, and then southwest to San Paulo. Por 
mounting the serra two locomotives were used, one at each 
end of the train. This part of the road contains fifteen tun- 
nels, and is a splendid piece of engineering. One of these 
tunnels is a mile and a half in length, and upon it were ex- 
pended seven years of labor and over two million milreis. 
The first section of the road passes over a flat, low country, 
but after leaving the town of Belem it begins to ascend the 
mountains in heavy grades and sweeping curves. The scen- 
ery is indescribably grand and beautiful, particularly from 
the neighborhood of Palmeiras, a little station overlooking 
the Macocos Yalley, which enjoys a high reputation as a 



2G0 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

health resort. The country is not thickly settled, and the 
towns at which we stopped are small and of the same unin- 
teresting type. We breakfast at Barra do Pirahy, a small 
railway-junction town on the Parahyba River, about seventy 
miles from Rio. As we go on, we follow the Parahyba 
River, sometimes on one bank, sometimes on the other. It 
is a muddy little stream, full of rapids, and unnavigable 
save perhaps for canoes. We pass along a great valley, some 
fifty miles wide, with beautiful ranges of mountains on each 
hand, that toward the south being the coast range, and the 
least interesting. In the other, the Serra da Mantiqueira, we 
pass the highest peak in Brazil. It is named Itatiaia, and is 
about nine thousand feet above sea-level. 

San Paulo lies upon a great plain, with low hills upon the 
entire horizon. It is a city of about fifty thousand inhabit- 
ants. The houses are of one story. There is a pretty pub- 
lic garden, with a tall tower from which a wide survey of the 
neighboring country may be had. Tramways reach the sub- 
urbs, where are many charming country-houses, at one of 
which — that of Mr. Squire Sampson, a retired American 
railway contractor — we were royally entertained for several 
days. San Paulo may be said to be the headquarters of the 
coffee interest, and from here run four lines of railway to the 
great coffee districts of the interior. Brazil, I may remind 
the reader, yields more than half the coffee consumed in the 
world, and the United States takes more than half the quan- 
tity exported. There are two and sometimes three coffee 
harvests in a year. In 1754 the first coffee-tree in Brazil was 
planted in the garden of the San Antonio Convent, in Rio 
Janeiro, but coffee did not become an object of cultivation 
until many years after. Early in the present century its 
value as an exportable product began to be recognized, and 
its cultivation at once became an object of general interest. 
The hills about Rio and around the bay were covered with 
coffee-orchards, the remains of which are still to be seen. 
Coffee cultivation, however, has long since disappeared from 
that vicinity, and with the opening of railways across the 



TEE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 261 

mountain-ranges along the coast, has pushed its way into the 
virgin districts of the interior. The trade of Rio Janeiro is 
almost wholly dependent upon coffee. Mr. Sampson kindly 
accompanied us to a city called Campinas, about eighty miles 
to the north, in order that we might visit some of the famous 
fazendas, or coffee-plantations. The city of Campinas has a 
population of about twenty thousand. It is curiously situ- 
ated in a great hollow of the plain, which makes it a very 
hot, uncomfortable, and unhealthy residence. The richer 
citizens, therefore, build their houses on the higher land of 
the environs. At the time of our visit to Campinas, a fair 
of local products and industries was being held, which was 
especially interesting from the great variety of coffee sam- 
ples and coffee machinery exhibited. 

From Campinas we made an excursion, in one day, to 
several of the neighboring coffee estates. The country roads 
were very bad, and I did not wonder that " buck-board " 
wagons were the favorite vehicles. Immediately upon leav- 
ing the city, the straight rows of the coffee-trees are every- 
where seen extending along the bases of the lower hills. In 
fact, it is the same all the way along the railway, from Rio 
to San Paulo, and on to Campinas. Almost the only other 
cultivated products that attract attention are maize and 
mandioc, which are all consumed in the country. Perhaps 
the chief dependence of the people is upon mandioc. This 
is a shrub, with large roots, which, after being scraped to a 
pulp and pressed, are baked on hot iron or earthenware 
plates. The mandioc, when washed and dried, furnishes the 
tapioca of commerce. There is, of course, a similarity about 
the manor-houses of all the great fazendas. Most of them 
are placed high up on the side of beautiful valleys, with 
magnificent outlooks, and all have splendid fruit-orchards 
and flower-gardens, in which you see growing, side by side, 
the choice representatives of two zones. The houses are of 
enormous size, and are approached by massive flights of 
steps. The rooms are thirty and even forty feet square, and 
twenty-five feet in height, without carpets and with com- 



202 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

paratively little furniture. There is a universal and divert- 
ing method of placing the sofa and chairs in the parlors. 
Three or four chairs always stand in rows at right angles 
from the ends of the sofa. This, of course, gives the room 
an oddly stiff appearance. In these rows the men always sit 
upon one side and the women upon the opposite. I did not 
see a library, or books other than a few novels, in any of 
these grand establishments. The bedrooms often have no 
windows or any means of ventilation, and are only lighted 
by their open doors. The size and style of the dining-rooms 
reminded me of those in the old baronial castles of England. 
We were invited to breakfast in one of these, and there met 
the proprietor's wife, a rather pretty woman, gayly attired. 
We were waited on by old and ugly slaves. The wife said 
little or nothing during the meal, and this was all that we 
saw of her, though we remained some time. I rather pitied 
her lonely existence, with no companions but negroes, and 
apparently with no employment or diversion save embroid- 
ery and lolling in a hammock. But I believe my sympathy 
to have been misplaced, for she seemed very contented, and 
to my question, " Would she not like to visit Europe?" she 
replied in the negative. In the same inclosures as the manor- 
houses were the quarters of the superintendent, the hospital, 
barns for the stock, and buildings for the preparation of cof- 
fee for the market. Several acres of a sloping hill-side near 
by, covered with cement and properly drained, were used 
for drying coffee. The most interesting buildings to me 
were the slave quarters — great quadrangles of low, single- 
story, mud huts, with a huge gate which locked the slaves 
in at night. I had the curiosity to examine one of the huts, 
and found therein nothing but a hammock, a bare bamboo 
bed, a few cooking-utensils, and the embers of a fire upon 
the mud floor. Some rude attempt at ornament had, how- 
ever, been made by means of pictures cut from English illus- 
trated papers. The slaves during all the day are, of course, 
at work in the fields. 

And now I am naturally brought to a consideration of 



THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 263 

the general subject of Brazilian slavery and emancipation, 
which, however, has been so freely and so frequently discussed 
in our daily journals and elsewhere, that I need but recount 
briefly my own impressions. By the law of the 28th of Sep- 
tember, 1871, it was declared that from that date ev.ery new- 
born child of a slave within the limits of the empire should be 
free. All government slaves and slaves of the imperial 
household were also declared free. With the object of 
gradually freeing the slaves of private individuals, the same 
law established an emancipation fund, the proceeds of which 
were annually applied for this purpose. The total extinction 
of slavery, without danger to public safety, and without det- 
riment to the rights of private property, thus seemed assured 
at no very distant date. A few months before I went to Rio, 
a law was passed making all slaves who were sixty-five years 
old free unconditionally, and manumitting all other slaves 
upon their attaining the age of sixty, on condition of their 
continuing, until the age of sixty-five to serve their former 
masters. Under this law slaves who were over sixty, but 
under sixty-five, at the time it was passed, would, though 
practically free, have longer or shorter periods of servitude 
still before them, according as their ages approximated that 
at which absolute freedom became their right. Those who 
had that right might, if they preferred, remain with their 
former masters, at a certain remuneration, unless they chose 
another manner of earning a living for which they were con- 
sidered fit by the judges of the orphans' courts. An official 
valuation was fixed on all others, and an additional five-per- 
cent tax on all revenues, except export duties, was imposed 
for the interest charges on the proposed emancipation bonds, 
and for increasing the emancipation fund. The maximum 
price from the emancipation fund necessary to free a slave, 
under the new law, was four hundred and fifty dollars. 

But there seems to have been a rapidly growing discon- 
tent among the slaves. In the southern part of the prov- 
ince of San Paulo a great simultaneous slave revolt had been 
planned for Christmas-eve, 1886, but was detected at the last 



264 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

moment by one of the planters. An alarm was given, and 
mili tar j dispatched to the disaffected plantations. There was 
a concerted action among the slaves which boded ill for the 
future. The peculiar dangers of the situation were dangers 
which must have increased with lapse of time. The much- 
used statement that the end of this century would see the 
end of negro slavery in Brazil was not, under the system of 
enfranchisement, at all correct. There was still a large slave 
population which was being freed at an infinitesimally slow 
rate — only about one a year out of eYery two hundred of their 
number. Brazil had a large free negro population, which 
enjoyed all the privileges of white citizens. It acquired 
material advantages in the matter of wealth and position 
through the use of its freedom. The emancipation fund dis- 
tributions among certain of their race were naturally observed 
with bitter disappointment and envy by the slaves. The 
natural result of all this was, to make them discontented and 
dissatisfied. It aroused feelings of desperation which, in the 
end, tended to revolt ; and this danger increased from year 
to year. What should be done ? The emancipation question 
had been studied from so many sides in Brazil, so many new 
projects had been tested, only to be afterward rejected, that I 
hesitated to give an opinion. And yet it seemed to me, with 
such light on the puzzling subject as I could obtain from every 
quarter, that instantaneous and total manumission would be 
the better course. The only way the Brazilian could disarm 
and avoid his threatened ruin was by decreeing immediate 
emancipation, and making suitable provisions for attaching 
the freedmen to the soil, for which negroes were better suited 
than any other race which could be brought into the country. 
Thus I wrote in 1886. Two years afterward, on May 17, 
1888, the Brazilian Senate passed a bill — which had been 
passed by the Chamber of Deputies the preceding week — 
granting immediate and unconditional emancipation. 

On May 18, 1888, a government decree was issued, ap- 
pointing three days for festivities in celebration of the aboli- 
tion of slavery. During those days the public offices and 



THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 265 

almost all the private establishments were closed. The fes- 
tival commenced with a grand mass in the open air, in the 
great square of Dom Pedro I., celebrated with immense pomp 
in the presence of the Princess Regent and family, the min- 
isters of state, the foreign representatives, officers "and offi- 
cials of every rank, numerous corporations, societies, and 
schools, the garrison and naval forces of Pio, and an immense 
assemblage of people. After this imposing ceremony and a 
naval and military parade were over, grand processions of 
schools, societies, corporations, students, and public and private 
employes of all classes were organized, day after day, and 
marched with bands, banners, orators, and addresses, through 
the principal streets, which were all decorated with flags and 
foliage, and at night were brilliantly illuminated. The thea- 
tres were opened gratuitously to the public, and on May 20th, 
at night, two of the public squares were transformed into open- 
air ball-rooms, to whose gratuitous Terpsichorean exercises 
the people of Pio, and especially the newly made citizens, 
were invited — an invitation as largely accepted as generously 
offered. The balls commenced after a beautiful display of 
fire- works, and were carried on until the morning of the 21st. 
From San Paulo we took the English railway to Santos, 
its seaport, about forty miles distant, whence we intended to 
return to Pio by sea. The railway runs through an uninter- 
esting expanse of country, until it reaches the summit of the 
coast range of mountains — the Serra do Mar — down which 
runs a cable road, a distance of five miles in f our " inclined 
planes." A train coming up balances that on which you 
descend. The height of the ridge is about twenty-five hun- 
dred feet. The wire cables used are an inch and a half in 
diameter. There are powerful engines located at the top of 
each incline. The steepest incline is ten per cent. This road 
has been open some twenty-odd years. Its original cost was 
very great, running, as it does, upon the steep flanks of val- 
leys where much stone-work was required. Owing to the 
peculiar topography of this section of country, enormous 
floods of rain fall during a single brief storm. In order to 



266 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

draw off these dangerous inundations, frequent sluices are 
built beneath the road-bed, and massive conduits almost con- 
tinuously follow its surface. Destructive land-slides occasion- 
ally occur, notwithstanding precaution has been taken against 
them. The views from the summit of the Serra do Mar are su- 
perb. You look into a great valley full of bright-green trees, 
and away to peak after peak in the distance toward the sea. 

Reaching the plain, a short run took us to Santos, a town 
of about twenty thousand people, built at the foot of some 
green hills and adjoining a short but deep river, which per- 
mits large steamers to approach its wharves, or at least an- 
chor near by. Santos is probably the second seaport of the 
empire in the value and importance of its exports. It is a 
hot, dirty, damp, unwholesome place, but there is a large 
healthy suburb, about four miles distant, toward the sea, at 
the south, and reached by a tramway. Going out you pass 
many beautiful country-houses, and upon arriving you look 
over the Bay of Santos, and out upon the broad Atlantic. 
Opposite this place — called the "Barra," the bar, where 
there is an exceptionally fine sea-beach, which is a favorite 
residence with foreigners — is a small dilapidated fort. All 
about the bay rise picturesque hills, and the coast on the 
journey to Rio shows many fine views of a like character. 
We took passage in the Argentine, of the Hamburg South 
American Steamship Company, a clean, comfortable, well- 
provisioned, and well-ordered steamer. As regards the great 
peaks to the northward and westward of Rio, I am at a loss 
to decide whether the view is more remarkable from the 
ocean or from the bay. At any rate, I feel safe in saying 
that the assemblage of peaks and ranges, rocks and valleys, 
coasts and beaches, lying promiscuously about the entrance to 
Rio Harbor, presents one of the most interesting scenic spec- 
tacles to be found anywhere in the world. As we came 
from another port of the same empire, we had no trouble 
with the custom-house inspectors, but upon landing found 
the city a worthy successor of the fiery furnace so graphically 
described in Holy Writ. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

A TRIP TO MOKKO VELHO. 

After seeing everything of interest in Rio and its en- 
virons, and having visited San Paulo, I determined to see 
something of the interior of Minas-Geraes, the highest table- 
land, the most populous, and one of the richest and most 
important of the provinces of Brazil. The prairies are cov- 
ered with vast herds of cattle, while below the surface in 
rocks, or alluvial deposits, or in the sands of rivers, are found 
gold, lead, coal, topazes, amethysts, and diamonds. I had 
proposed to visit the old Portuguese gold-mine of Morro 
Velho, the richest in the empire, and the largest and deepest 
in the world ; Ouro Preto, the curious capital of Minas- 
Geraes ; Nova Friburgo, the site of the first colony estab- 
lished in Brazil ; and Nictheroy, the capital of the province 
of Rio Janeiro. The journey would be performed by 
steamer, railroad, and mule-back. It would cover about one 
thousand miles, and require at least a month. The general 
direction of the tour would be north and south, and Petrop- 
olis, which I had already visited, would be the actual point 
of departure. From here I intended to go to a village 
called Entre Rios, on the Parahyba River, and about sixty 
miles distant. At the low- vitality hour of 4 a. m. I heard 
the bugle of the coach, and, hailing it, took the only remain- 
ing outside seat. 

This coach was of the orthodox English pattern, holding 
four " insides " and fourteen " outsides." There were two 
classes of passengers. "We were drawn by five mules, the 
three leaders being harnessed abreast. The coach was named 
" Celeridade," and well deserved its title, for we bowled 



268 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

along at a swift gallop of at least ten miles an hour. The 
road has been built many years, and is a capital piece of en- 
gineering. It is macadamized, and at intervals are toll-gates. 
The streams are crossed by good iron-girder bridges. The 
company dispatches one coach each way per day, and, of 
course, carries the mail. But the care of this in no wise in- 
terfered with our progress. Bags were handed up to the 
guard on sticks, which, having removed, he threw back, and 
other bags were tossed out, without a pause in our speed. 
Leaving Petropolis we followed a narrow valley, containing 
the Piabanha Elver, nearly all the way to Entre Bios, cross- 
ing the stream several times. The whole ride was through a 
most picturesque region, and the excellence of the road, to- 
gether with the rapid pace at which we covered it, made a 
Yerj exhilarating journey. It being so early in the morning, 
and cloudy, overcoats were comfortable, and hot coffee at one 
station added not a little to our well-being. The gorge 
along which we flew was generally denuded of trees, and 
covered with corn, coffee, or pasture, alternately. The river 
was merely a great brawling mountain torrent, dashing itself 
over rocks, swirling around corners, and roaring and raging as 
if wild at being so buffeted. The hills were of the same un- 
couth, sugar-loaf, dome-and-peak character as those surround- 
ing the Bay of Bio. Some were green and wooded, and 
some were of bare rock, precipitous and smooth, save for 
beautiful clumps of lichen. On the opposite side of the river 
a new narrow-gauge railroad — but not then in operation — 
followed us for half the distance to Entre Bios, to which it 
is to be eventually extended. Great carts, drawn by live 
yoke of oxen, and loaded with bags of coffee, were continu- 
ally passing us on their way to the shore of the great bay, 
and thence to a market. In the coffee-plantations I noticed 
slaves at work hoeing maize, and superintended by mulattoes, 
each with an ever-ready whip strung around his neck. The 
houses were usually very mean mud structures, but occasion- 
ally we got sight of the superior headquarters of a coffee 
estate encompassed with beautiful gardens. Just before 



A TRIP TO MORRO VELEO. 269 

reaching Entre Bios, we crossed the Parahyba River on a 
long iron bridge, supported by stone piers. Entre Kios is 
an insignificant little village, only important as being the 
junction of the great Dom Pedro II. Railroad, and also of 
another which runs a long distance to the eastward. Our 
coach made close connection with the train, in which I de- 
posited myself and baggage. 

At first we followed the valley of the Parahybuna, a 
branch of the Parahyba, both the banks and the hills being 
covered with coffee-plants of various growths, as evidenced 
by their varying shades of green. Then we gradually rose 
and passed over a ridge commanding a long backward view 
of woody hills, so incessantly undulating as to resemble a 
great ocean of tumultuous verdure. The various tints, from 
the most delicate green of the young coffee to the dark vel- 
vety emerald of the forests, melted their infinite gradations 
into each other, and made a particularly pleasing panoramic 
prospect. Besides the coffee, much maize was grown. I had 
observed that the coach-road was a veritable cork-screw; that 
often, at a distance of less than half a mile ahead, you could 
not for your life tell how you were to get out of the cul-de- 
sac, or which way the valley would wind. But of all the 
railway-rides I ever took, this was certainly the most crooked. 
In order to avoid the numerous knolls, it had to turn and 
turn, often making a complete semicircle. The formation of 
the country was quite extraordinary. Ridges were absent, but 
in their place were thousands of detached hills and hillocks, 
with very straitened valleys between. The railway might 
be accurately described as made of embankments, curves, 
and earth-channels. The soil being quite red, partly from 
the presence of iron-ore, the huge slices which were frequent- 
ly pared from the hills looked like great scars on Mother 
Earth's green body. We stopped at many stations, but they 
were generally only the smallest of villages. Exceptions 
would be the towns of Parahybuna and Barbacena. The 
second section of our journey consisted largely of forests, 
while the third contained considerable grazing land. Occa- 



270 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

sionally we could see large manor-houses, and the train 
seemed full of men whom, from their dress, manner, and 
conversation, I imagined to be coffee -planters. Slaves were 
everywhere at work in the fields, striving with enormous hoes 
to root out the ever-luxuriant weeds. A little before reaching 
Barbacena, a branch line runs a long distance to the westward. 
The village of Lafayette is the present terminus of the 
railway, which, however, will soon reach Sahara, with a 
branch line to Onro Preto. It is intended eventually to ex- 
tend the Dom Pedro II. Railway from Sahara, on the Rio 
das Velhas, to the junction of that river with the San Fran- 
cisco, of which it is the main branch. Uninterrupted steam- 
er communication will be had down the San Francisco for 
thirteen hundred miles, to the famous rapids of Paulo Affon- 
so. Around these rapids has already been built a railway, 
from whose terminus other steamers ply directly to the point 
where the San Francisco empties into the Atlantic Ocean. 
Lafayette and Rio are daily connected by an express-train 
each way. It is one day's mule-ride to Onro Preto, and three 
to Morro Yelho. There are three very fair little hotels in 
Lafayette — one of them has the winning title of " Friendship 
Hotel," and another is called " Good Hope Hotel." The sta- 
tion of Lafayette is about half a mile distant from the town 
of Queluz, which is built along the summit of a ridge of 
hills, whence a splendid view of the country in every direc- 
tion may be had. It consists almost entirely of one long and 
very broad street, faced by one-story, whitewashed houses. 
At about the middle and at one end are churches. At the 
other extremity are a chapel and a cemetery. Queluz, but 
twelve hours from Rio, could not, in a certain sense, be far- 
ther off if it were a thousand miles in the interior. Rio is a 
great Europeanized city, importing or manufacturing every 
necessary as well as all the conveniences and luxuries of life; 
whereas in Queluz the people make their own clothes and 
soap. It is a very abrupt transition from culture to primi- 
tiveness. In Queluz the dead are buried in the parish 
churchyard, without any ceremonial and with no clergyman 



A TRIP TO MORRO YELHO. 271 

present. The streets at night are unlighted. If you wish a 
prescription compounded, you will lose much time in search- 
ing for the druggist, fie may be out riding or shooting, or 
his shop may be closed, or " peradventure he traveleth." 
Even if found at home, he has been known to return word 
that the prescription would be " put up " amanha — to-mor- 
row. The doctors are landed proprietors. They practice 
medicine merely to pass the time, and will attend you if they 
feel in the mood. The prison of Queluz was on the principal 
street, with heavily barred windows, where the prisoners were 
not only talking with people in the street, but from which 
they had also thrust their legs and arms. Not only do the sen- 
tries chat with the prisoners, giving them all the daily gossip 
of the town, but they even play cards with them, the bars in- 
tervening between the two parties by no means handicapping 
the game. There are many lepers in Queluz. The prevalence 
of the disease is said to be in large part due to the people liv- 
ing almost exclusively upon a diet of pork and corn-meal. 

The next day I left Lafayette for the gold-mine of Morro 
Yelho, about eighty miles distant. I took a horse and two 
mules, one of the latter for my guide and the other for my 
baggage. My guide's name was Hippolyte, but, being a very 
black negro, I doubt if he was a lineal descendant of the 
Christian theologian, martyr, and saint of like name. He was 
originally a Brazilian slave, but had been given his liberty 
some ten years before by a kind-hearted owner. He was a 
great, burly, good-natured fellow, and proved an excellent 
servant. He wore huge spurs strapped to his bare feet, which 
had to me a very comical appearance at first, though it is the 
custom here ; and he rode, moreover, with one or two, but 
never all, his toes placed in the stirrup. The road was about 
twenty feet in width, and when I say that I passed a few 
light, narrow wagons, with great wooden wheels, drawn by 
eight yoke of oxen, the reader has as fair an idea of its con- 
dition as if I added that in places the mud was a foot deep, 
and that the road extended up and down hill at angles of 
thirty degrees. These Brazilian turn-outs reminded me some- 



272 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

what of the great Cape Colony wagons, which, with their 
twenty yoke of oxen " trek " away into the distant interior. 
The country was of the same general character as that already 
described as existing from Entre Rios to Lafayette — a rough 
sea of hills and hillocks. There was but little primitive for- 
est, though considerable of "second-growth" timber, and not 
a little fine meadow-land. Some corn was cultivated, though 
but little coffee. The land seemed sparsely settled. Never- 
theless, I encountered a goodly number of roadside stores 
and inns, and two or three somewhat pretentious hotels. 
Only one small village was seen. We passed many mule- 
troops — generally about half a dozen animals in a troop — 
loaded with coffee. These were coming down-country, though 
in going up they carried multifarious household merchandise. 
The loads of the mules were neatly roofed with great hides — 
an effectual water-proof covering. Most of the animals wore 
little baskets over their mouths, the object of course being to 
prevent their stopping to graze by the roadside. The lead- 
ing mule bore a bell, whose tinkling the others were supposed 
to follow as willingly as sheep their bell-wether ; but the 
mules here as elsewhere require constant prodding, so defect- 
ive is their memory. The muleteers sing also quaint songs, 
rather to encourage the mules than to amuse themselves. In 
like manner the cart-drivers have a method — and a very dis- 
agreeable one — of making music for their oxen by putting 
charcoal on the axles of their carts, which makes them squeak 
in the most excruciating manner. You can tell their approach 
a mile off. The mule-troops were always attended by a 
couple of negroes — one mounted, one on foot — clothed only 
in hat, shirt, and trousers. All removed their hats, and sa- 
luted me in a very respectful manner. There were but few 
carts, probably on account of the wretched condition of the 
roads. We were hardly able to exceed a walk at any time 
during the day. The rivers are crossed by good wooden 
bridges ; the brooks are forded. The horses of a few Brazil- 
ian ladies and gentlemen ambled past — the ladies with long, 
flowing habits and kid gloves, the gentlemen in white duck 



A TRIP TO MOERO YELEO. 273 

suits and straw hats. With one party a two-mule litter car- 
ried the baby, nurse, and smaller children. The little native 
grog-shops, of which there were many, seemed well patron- 
ized. They contained sugar-cane brandy, domestic and im- 
ported beer, sweet drinks, cigarettes, etc. At Ouro Branco 
I stopped for lunch at one of the small hotels. It was not 
provided with chairs, at least not in the sitting-room, which 
had, however, a sofa and a bed. A high gate at the door 
effectually prevented chickens from walking in and babies 
from walking out. 

Leaving this village the road skirted a low range of grass- 
covered hills for some distance to the eastward, gradually 
mounting them, and turning to the right for Ouro Preto, 
and the left for Morro Yelho. We followed along this ridge 
for some distance, having everywhere magnificent views of 
the billowy land, until a terrific thunder-storm coming sud- 
denly up shut out the horizon on every side. The lightning 
was really frightful. You had to shut your eyes after a 
flash, and then slowly open them in order to see the road, 
while the thunder fairly shook the ground under one's feet. 
I rode directly through a great black cloud, the electric flame 
almost singeing my mustache, and a firm conviction taking 
possession of me that the very next stroke would put an eter- 
nal quietus upon at least one inquisitive wanderer. The rain 
fell in such torrents as to actually make my shoulders and back 
sore. Not until sundown did it cease, and by that time I 
had reached an exceedingly primitive inn for dinner and 
sleep. I fought my way through the pigs and chickens in 
the front room, and found a reed-covered bedstead in a rear 
room. The only other furniture in the house was a table. 
The ceiling was of plaited bamboos, the floor of mud. On 
my way out to look for some drinking-water, my passage 
was disputed by a horse eating a few grains off the floor of 
the sitting — no, standing-room. Water for washing was 
brought me in an old soup-tureen, with a piece of a curtain 
for a towel. This was a specimen of a Brazilian pousada, or 
wayside-inn. And yet, with all this barbarism, the bed-linen 
18 



274 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

as in Ecuador and the Argentine Republic, was bordered 
with lace and fancy knitted-work! My pillow was round, 
like a Lyons sausage, and just about as large and as hard. 
The road hither, as might be imagined from the extreme 
irregularity of the country, had been very tortuous. Some- 
times also it passed through cuttings — not made by man, but 
by water — the top of which, just the width of a cart, was ten 
feet above your head as you rode along on horseback. The 
carts in some places had worn ruts in the rock quite a foot in 
depth. I noticed a number of gold-diggings and washings, 
mostly made by the old Portuguese miners, and many land- 
slides or land-sinkings, great cracks in the earth caused by 
the rains, the soil everywhere appearing of a bright-red color. 
Many of the neighboring hills had curious exposed rock 
formations. Indeed, the whole region possesses great interest 
for a geologist. My dinner was fairly good. Boilded man- 
dioc-farina took the place of bread. The native beer was 
quite palatable, not unlike certain light German beers. The 
good people were not able to provide me with a knife, 
and so I had to bite from a large piece as best I might. At 
night the muleteers gathered in groups about little fires, and 
sang love-songs, with the customary fandango touch with 
which we are familiar. They accompanied themselves on a 
sort of guitar, called here a viola. Doubtless the novel sur- 
roundings of a moonlight night in the interior of tropical 
Brazil made this entertainment especially interesting to me. 

Starting at six the next morning we passed through a 
country of pasture and forest. The hills were grassed and 
bare of trees, while the banks of the streams were thickly 
wooded. The excavations made by the old miners continued 
a striking and picturesque feature of the landscape. Their 
general tint was a bright brick-red, with variously shaded 
mineral streaks, and sometimes the banks of the hollows 
glistened with all the colors of the rainbow. The rain has 
washed and the wind has worn the great cavities into very 
fantastic shapes. Sometimes they are full of ridges, sharp as 
a knife ; sometimes they are crowded with little pinnacles, 



A TRIP TO MORRO VELEO. 275 

each of a different color ; then again they are fashioned into 
a series of terraces and towers innumerable. As I rode along, 
the hill-side croppings, the bed of the road, and the banks of 
the streams all showed a sufficient variety of rocks and min- 
erals to stock a cabinet. I halted for breakfast at a better 
sort of inn than that of the previous night. It was in the 
town of Caxones, a pretty little place lying along the low 
ridges of a valley, through which ran a river crossed by a 
wooden bridge. Many of the houses in this town were two 
stories in height, and a large and rather imposing church 
crowned a central hillock. In the course of the afternoon I 
passed through several villages. These usually consisted of 
a long, straggling street, with a double-towered church at one 
end and a chapel and cemetery at the other. The church 
seemed always to be placed upon high ground, easily to be 
seen from all parts of the village and environs. Upon a 
number of hill-tops were small chapels, with great wooden 
crosses at their sides. The latter were painted black and 
covered with a most extraordinary assortment of ecclesiastical 
emblems. Among them I noticed a rooster, probably in 
honor of St. Peter, a sword, a pitcher and wash-basin, skull 
and cross-bones, hammer and tongs, mingled with the wine- 
cup, sponge, spear, ladder, and other symbols of the cruci- 
fixion. At intervals along the roadside were small wooden 
crosses, some of them nearly covered with pretty flowering 
vines, and surrounded by neat palings. The muleteers 
gravely doffed their hats at each. But the frequent occur- 
rence of these crosses is, to a visitor, extremely disheartening, 
for at each of them, it is said, some one died from sudden 
illness, or was murdered. The views during the afternoon 
embraced two thirds of the horizon. The road seems to keep 
upon the ridges where possible. At other times it winds 
high up the mountain-sides, so that nearly all the while you 
have charming visions of dome-shaped hillocks, of undulating 
pastures, of blue and distant ranges, of valleys filled with 
darkly graceful trees, and of pretty little villages, whose 
white walls gleam amid the all-engulfing green. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 

We stopped for our noon breakfast, the next day, at the 
village of San Antonio on the Rio das Velhas. During the 
morning we had passed a peak, to the west, of nearly a mile 
in height. All the afternoon the range of hills called the 
Serra da Piedade, of about the same height, loomed before 
us to the northwest. Morro Velho is at the extreme north- 
eastern end of this range. We finally ascended a sharp 
ridge, from the top of which we saw the village of Congon- 
has straggling along the road for a mile or so at our feet. 
The descent to this valley was very precipitous. Congonhas 
seemed to be a hamlet rather above the average. In the 
Grand Plaza I even noticed the word " Teatro " on a small 
single-story edifice. The cathedral contains a very remarka- 
ble series of old carved wooden statuary, cleverly arranged 
in historical tableaux, which illustrate scenes in the life of 
Christ and the apostles, and an engraved specimen of which 
I am fortunately able to show the reader. 

Passing through Congonhas, you ascend another sharp 
ridge, and find just beyond it the village and mine of Morro 
Velho. The clatter of the mills is heard a long way off. 
The opening to the mine, the stamping and other works, and 
the dwellings of the miners, are crowded into a circlet of 
the hills. Dismounting at the general offices, I enter the 
private grounds of the San Juan del Rey Mining Company, 
and am received with open-armed hospitality by Mr. George 
Chalmers, the superintendent, in a large old-fashioned resi- 
dence, built by the Portuguese miners more than a hundred 



DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 277 

years ago. It is a very comfortable single-story house, fitted 
with every luxury of a high-class English home. The sit- 
ting-room and parlors are full of natural history collections, 
among them the skins of many animals shot by the superin- 
tendent, who is a devoted sportsman and collector. One stand 
contains a splendid lot of crystals with magnetic pyrites. 
The baths are supplied with cool spring water, which con- 
stantly flows through them. In one room is a fine large bill- 
iard-table. The lawn is marked for tennis, while in a little 
octagonal pavilion near by is an excellent library of books, 
with a large table, covered with magazines and other peri- 
odicals, and well supplied with writing materials. A broad 
piazza extends around the house, and affords interesting 
views of the neighboring hills. Kare orchids, in endless pro- 
fusion, border the piazza, while a pretty inner court-yard is 
laid out with fruit-trees, flowers, and gravel walks. There 
are commodious stables and poultry-yards. A small men- 
agerie of wild dogs, pigs, monkeys, deer, etc., would prove 
of interest to a naturalist, and of interest to every one would 
be the very intelligent Scotch terrier " Charlie." The mine, 
through bad management, had been running down very rap- 
idly, when, about a year before my visit, Mr. Chalmers came 
out from England and took charge of it. Changes were at 
once initiated in all the departments, savings were made in 
old methods, new ones were introduced, and the mine and 
works were quickly developed and brought into a paying 
condition. Mr. Chalmers is a very young man — but thirty- 
three — for such a responsible position, but he has already 
proved himself just the person for the place. From six 
o'clock in the morning until ten at night he makes the rounds 
of the different divisions. He is ubiquitous, and his energy 
is untiring. 

A very remarkable and interesting experience was my de- 
scent into the mine. At one of the neighboring offices some 
miners' clothes were given me. Especially useful as a shield 
against falling stones was a hat made of very stout felt. To 
the front of this a candle was stuck with a small lump of soft 



278 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

clay. Two iron cages, or cars, were run with wire ropes, by 
water-power, and filled a vertical shaft, bored, after tlie first 
hundred feet or so, in the solid rock, to a depth of fourteen 
hundred and fifty feet. One car ascends while the other de- 
scends, carrying the miners, or at other times the gold-rock, 
in little iron cars, which are run in and out upon rails. Mr. 
Chalmers, the captain of the mine, and a boy with a bag of 
candles and a bundle of oiled rags, with which to illuminate 
special parts of the excavation, accompany me. From the 
bottom of the shaft the main gallery, with double track for 
the cars, runs off to near the present end of the mine, but 
several hundred feet above it. Here there is a small steam- 
engine, which is used to raise the ore in a great iron bucket 
from one of the platforms where the men are at work. Not 
far from a point where the gallery branches from the shaft, 
is the original starting of the drift by the present English 
company, the lode running toward the east at an angle of 
forty-five degrees. This drift descends several hundred feet 
to a large level space, then there is an abrupt descent of per- 
haps fifty feet, and another great level, another descent of 
fifty feet, and then a smaller level, and you arrive at the ex- 
treme bottom of the mine. Let me now go back and follow 
our footsteps as we made the circuit. We had reached the 
end of the main gallery, and stood upon some very heavy 
wooden flooring. There was nothing between us and the 
bottom of the mine, some four hundred feet below, save the 
several landing-stages. On one side was the rod of the huge 
pump, slowly, almost noiselessly at work. In the center was 
an opening where the ore-bucket was drawn up an inclined 
plane. On the other side was a round dark hole where we 
began a further descent upon long, narrow ladders, which 
dipped at a very slight angle — indeed, seemed nearly horizon- 
tal part of the time. The ladders being slippery, and not 
backed by planking, you could occasionally catch glimpses, 
through the rungs, of passing lights, and of men at work 
many hundred feet below. The experience was depressing, 
nor did the continual caution not to look down exhilarate us. 



DOWN TEE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 279 

We descended innumerable ladders of interminable length. 
The roofs and sides of the mine were everywhere supported 
by the hardest woods of Brazil. Two feet square was the 
average thickness of these timbers, though I occasionally saw 
them as much as three feet square. At the bottom,, such of 
the roof as I could see, seemed supported by great wooden 
columns, between which was a solid backing of heavy plank- 
ing. Then some twenty feet below this was a row of enor- 
mous logs, placed at about fifteen feet apart. On our way 
down the ladders, at every landing we saw men at work, 
some putting in new timbers — for sometimes these rot quick- 
ly — others bracing old ones, or mending some of the hauling- 
gear. Each gang of men had an English boss. From the 
last stage the bottom of the mine is reached by a long wire- 
rope ladder, loosely hung against the perpendicular wall. It 
is necessary to have a ladder of this kind, for the frequent 
blasts would soon destroy a wooden one. The lode, at the 
end, two thousand feet below the surface, is about fifty feet 
in width, and so rich that the dark gray stone fairly glistens 
in the light of the miners' candles. Comparatively little 
water is in the mine, the pump drawing from a shallow pool 
through a long canvas tube. As fast as the gallery advances 
the huge timbers are placed just below the roof, across it. 
It seems wonderful how the men can get a tree-trunk three 
feet square, and nearly a hundred feet in length, into such 
seemingly inaccessible positions. It is done by means of 
great chains and the assistance of the steam-engine previous- 
ly mentioned. 

All through the mine the visitor is startled and alarmed 
by a variety of continuous rumblings and reverberations. 
The calls of the men to each other and the commands of 
the bosses have also an ominous sound. These goblin noises, 
penetrating through the murky darkness, combine with the 
miners' lights, which dart about like so many vicious jack 
o'lanterns, to surround one with a pandemonium. The air, 
however, is everywhere remarkably pure, a pleasantly disil- 
lusioning fact, rather unusual, as no fresh air is forced down 



2S0 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

from above. At the end of the drift I found about a dozen 
men drilling holes in the ore-producing mineral vein, and 
another dozen engaged in putting in new timbers. From 
here you can look straight up, along some thousands of feet, 
to the beginning of the drift — over the two platforms, and 
above, to the roof, four hundred feet distant. The width 
varies from fifty to a hundred feet. It is a most wonderful, 
awe-inspiring cavity. No other mine in the world can boast 
of a greater. Boys with torches were sent to different points 
along the excavation, so that we could easily get an idea of 
its vast proportions, while the lights of men at work above 
indicated the distance of the roof. Clambering up the first 
incline, we found about fifty men engaged in drilling and 
loading the bucket with the ore. They were singing a wild 
refrain, keeping good time with the heavy blows of their 
sledges. Their naked bodies showed superb muscular de- 
velopment. They paused for a moment to salute our party 
with a double "Viva/" and then the banging, clanging, 
and strange though not unmusical singing, continued. What 
a grim picture it all made ! I remember some of Dore's 
illustrations of Dante which might be exactly duplicated 
here; while the uncouth cries, oaths, blows, and rumbles, 
might with but little stretch of the imagination be thought 
fit for "the high capital of Satan and his peers." While 
watching the men, and standing upon the next higher plat- 
form, noises like distant but heavy thunder would occasion- 
ally be heard. These, they told me, were blasts in remote 
and smaller galleries. Dynamite is used for these blasts, 
seventy-five pounds a day being required. The men at the 
end of our gallery next fired seventeen charges, as we all 
stood under what is regarded as the strongest wall, for fear 
of possible stone-flakes falling, though the drifts are blasted 
and cleared so effectually that there is but very little danger. 
The various reports of the exploding charges were appall- 
ing. The successive waves of air struck us with powerful 
force. After the sharp crash, as of the heaviest artillery, 
the ground would shake violently beneath our feet, while the 



DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 281 

whole mine appeared to be rocking and tumbling for some 
seconds. The reverberating echoes were especially sonorous. 
One particularly thunderous discharge answered for a parting 
salute, and, after four hours passed in inspection, we proposed 
to ascend by the forty-five-degree incline. A wire cable is 
attached to the top of a platform some hundred feet or 
so above. Straddling this cable, and seizing it with both 
hands, you walk along, pulling yourself slowly up the cliff. 
Arrived here, you take to the ladders, all of them steep, 
some of them nearly vertical. You finally reach the gallery 
that is on a level with the bottom of the shaft, to which you 
walk. Here was assembled quite a crowd of miners, who 
gave us another " Viva ! " In going up to the surface the 
negroes in the car entertained us with some more of their half- 
barbaric songs. The miners seemed a contented, jovial set. 
They looked, too, quite robust, though that scourge of most 
miners, consumption, decimates them here as elsewhere. I 
had found the mine cool and pleasant, although our climbing 
exertions produced very free perspiration. Arrived at the 
surface, however, the warm, muggy air quite took away our 
remaining strength, and we were very glad, after dinner, to 
indulge in a lengthy siesta. 

One evening Mr. Chalmers had the colored people come 
up to the " Casa Grande," the manor, to entertain us with 
some of their music, dancing, and games. About half of 
them were slaves, though only hired by the company, not 
belonging to it. They were all dressed in their smartest. 
The musical instruments they brought were two guitars, a 
flageolet, triangle, bells, and a tom-tom, like those used in 
western Africa, to whose accompaniment they sang, some- 
times with a solo and chorus, sometimes all in concert. The 
dances were very amusing. In one of them the men occu- 
pied one half of a circle, and the women the other. A 
woman would then jump about and twirl around in the 
center of the ring, and suddenly stop in front of some man, 
or more likely run up against him, and then return to her 
place. This was regarded as a sort of challenge by the man, 



282 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

who would at once leave the circle and go through a similar 
performance, halting in front of some woman. The latter 
would repeat the performance, and so on, alternately. This 
odd proceeding constituted the whole of the dance. But 
the performers were all enthusiasm and excitement, and 
skipped about so energetically that I was afraid some of them 
would get injured. In fact, such is occasionally the case. 
A crowd of a hundred or more were looking on, some clap- 
ping hands to the rhythm of the music, and all greatly inter- 
ested and amused. The music, singing, clapping, laughing, 
and shouting made a fearful hubbub. Frequently one of the 
musicians, instrument in hand, would enter the arena and 
dance as wildly as any of the others, without ceasing his 
playing for an instant. A favorite and diverting game was 
" baiting the bull." A very good imitation of a bull's head 
had been made from an actual head of bone covered with 
cloth. A man imitated a bull by secreting himself in the 
skin of one of these animals, and supported the artificial head 
in proper position. This " make-believe " bull was then led 
in by two men, fantastically dressed, and wearing masks, 
who capered around the improvised animal without ceasing. 
The crowd followed the bull about the lawn, playing, sing- 
ing, and dancing, as merry as children. Occasionally the bull 
would walk around in a circle, clearing a larger space for him- 
self. All his movements were those of the genuine animal. 
Sometimes, with head down and slightly swinging from side 
to side, he would make a charge straight into the crowd, 
knocking men and boys " head over heels," and causing the 
women and girls to run and scream as only women and girls 
can on such occasions. The performance was continued for 
some time, and appeared to afford the colored people as much 
amusement as it did ourselves. At the finish the crowd all 
marched away, following the music and still dancing. It was 
a vivid reminiscence of western Africa. These slaves per- 
petuate not only their original habits and customs, but their 
languages, which they frequently talk among themselves, 
though, when they learn Portuguese, they are apt to forget 



DOWN TEE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 283 

their vernacular. They are contented, peaceable, happy 
people, and the men who work in the mine are faithful and 
honest. 

The clatter of the mills is heard night and day, Sundays 
and holidays, week in and week out. The mining works 
were all shown me by the obliging superintendent, Mr. 
Chalmers. A general view of the place brings into promi- 
nence a huge water-course and iron siphon coming down a 
hill to the extreme left, or west. The driving power is water, 
introduced in flumes, and this one is seven miles in length. 
Then you see, at the north, the quarter where the married 
slaves reside, and, some distance above it upon the hill-side, 
the abode of the bachelor miners, appropriately styled " Tim- 
buctoo." The English miners live at some distance in the 
opposite direction. The stamping - mills, with their rock- 
crushers and the strakes, are in the center, tucked into a lit- 
tle valley ; nearer are the huge mill-wheels, sixty feet in 
diameter, one of which furnishes the power for working the 
pump. Farther to the right is the negro church, and below 
it, some distance, the reduction and amalgamation works. 
Still farther on, to the right, up on the hill, is the little Eng- 
lish cemetery, and below it are the neat cottages of the store- 
keeper and doctor, and, still lower down, the hospital. The 
great store-house of the company covers the hillock to the 
south of the casa grande. Here are collections of every- 
thing likely to be needed in the works or mine, from candles 
to machinery. By-the-by, eight gross of candles are every 
day used in the mine. The upper story of the store-house is 
filled with corn and beans for the consumption of the miners. 
Here also is an apartment which, on certain occasions, is im- 
provised as a ball-room, and a smaller one adjoining is utilized 
for the serving of supper. The mine keeps busy five great 
stamping-mills, one of them being like those I have seen in 
California. The others are huge, clumsy affairs, though an- 
swering their purpose very well. I followed all the various 
processes of the works, from where the rough ore leaves the 
shaft's mouth, until I saw the gold bars ready for transport 



284 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

to Rio and shipment to England. It is not necessary to de- 
tail here all this series of operations, which, though simple 
in theory, require careful and accurate attention in practice. 
The rock of the mine is a clay slate, not remarkably hard, 
but the gold, though richly abounding, is in extremely fine 
particles ; or, to be more exactly scientific, the gold is found 
associated with arsenical and sulphur pyrites in a vein trav- 
ersing clay slate. Employed in excavating and hauling the 
mineral, and timbering the mine, are some four hundred 
men, the nationalities embracing English, Brazilians, Portu- 
guese, Italians, Germans, Austrians, Spanish, and Chinese. In 
the works are employed sixty Chinese, seventy-five English, 
and nearly one thousand natives. Many native women are 
occupied with the lighter work, as at the strakes and in the 
amalgamation-rooms. Crushing, grinding, and pulverizing, 
with the continued use of running water, and the final assist- 
ance of quicksilver, are the grand methods by which the per- 
fect gold is separated from its ore-stone. Six times a year 
what is termed the " gold troop " carries the bars of gold in 
one of the ordinary country carts, attended by only two or 
three natives, over the terrible roads of Minas-Geraes, down 
to Lafayette and the Dom Pedro II. Railway, whence the 
precious freight is quickly carried to Rio. It is a remarkable 
fact that no escort is deemed necessary with this shipment, 
though I noticed that Brazilian travelers, like those in the 
Argentine Republic, wish apparently to be on the safe side, 
for they all carry large revolvers. The bars weigh, on an av- 
erage, eight pounds troy, and contain about one half per 
cent silver. They have to be remelted in England, for purifi- 
cation, before being marketable, and are then worth about 
three thousand dollars. The present company, which has 
been working the mine for nearly sixty years, have taken out 
as much as three thousand pounds troy in what they term a 
" good year." 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

ON THE KIO DAS VELHAS. 

During my visit at Morro Yelho a small steamer belong- 
ing to the mining company was to go abont one hundred 
miles down the Rio das Velhas, an affluent of the great San 
Francisco River, to a place called Jaguara, to obtain a cargo 
of timber for use in the shoring of the mine, and by courtesy 
of Mr. Chalmers I became the sole passenger. My kind host 
accompanied me to the town of Sahara, eight miles from 
Morro Yelho, where the little steamer was lying. It was 
just after a rain-storm, and all the shallow hollows in the road 
glistened with minute particles of gold. The sand of most 
of the brooks, too, contained sufficient gold to pay for wash- 
ing, while many of the rocks were composed of eighty-five 
per cent of iron. The steamer I found to be a small, paddle- 
wheel craft, about fifty feet long, and ten feet wide. Di- 
rectly in the bow was a bench, covered with an awning, an 
admirable place to sit and see everything. Then came the 
galley, next the engine and boiler, and then a long cabin, and 
space for freight. The steamer itself, however, was not 
intended either for freight or passengers, but to tow an iron 
barge, of about thirty feet in length, and laden with logs and 
sawed timber. The steamer was under the command of an 
Englishman as chief engineer; then there were a native 
pilot, who had been fifteen years upon the river, a fireman, 
a cook, and three sailors. The steamer and the barge were 
built wholly of iron, some twenty years ago, at Jaguara, by a 
Frenchman, originally to bring proper lumber with which to 
build a bridge across the river at Sahara — a fine structure and, 



286 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

thanks to the durable wood of the country, in good condition 
to-day. Sahara is a very picturesque-looking town, situated on 
a steep but low hill upon the bank of the river. From a dis- 
tance one sees the customary two churches, at opposite sides 
of the town, and among the majority of one-story houses a 
few of two stories, all with glistening white walls, set off by 
dark-green foliage of many kinds. Sahara is located at what 
may be called the extreme head of light-draught navigation, 
for steamers drawing more than fifteen inches must stop a 
hundred miles below. It is to be a station on the Dom 
Pedro II. Railway. 

We started about midday. The river was of a muddy- 
brown character, shallow, about three hundred feet in width, 
and with a five-knot current. It rises in the rainy season 
quite twenty feet above its winter level. But it is full of 
bends, and right angles, and curves which nearly complete a 
circle, and around which it was often difficult to pass. Al- 
though we drew but fifteen inches of water, yet we fre- 
quently ran aground, and had to be slowly poled off. Some- 
times we grounded at one end, and would spin quickly 
around and go down-stream, stern foremost, until another 
grounding would turn us again prow downward. The banks 
were about five hundred feet in height, covered with either 
virgin or second-growth forest, and occasionally cleared and 
planted with maize, mandioc, coffee, and sugar-cane. Some- 
times farm-houses were seen, and late in the afternoon, our 
speed having been about ten knots per hour, we passed the 
town of Santa Luzia, perched upon and extending along a 
green hill running back from the river, a fair copy of Sabara, 
though seeming somewhat larger. At Santa Luzia an old 
rustic, rickety bridge crosses the river, which, with no greater 
depth, has now widened to about five hundred feet. From 
here onward the country became more open, and the hills 
were rather lower. Many of the banks in the river were 
covered with sleek-looking cattle lying in the sand, partly to 
save themselves from the attacks of insects and partly to 
obtain more of the breeze. Some very large fish are caught 



ON TEE RIO DAS VELEAS. 287 

in the Rio das Velhas. Mr. Chalmers has in his parlor a 
stuffed specimen, five feet in length and proportionately 
broad, which came from the section below Jaguara. At 
night we stopped at a farm-house which had a sugar-cane dis- 
tillery — though this was not the reason we stopped — and many 
other out-buildings. Just before mooring, we ran aground 
and swung around at right angles to the course of the river. 
At this juncture the men stripped themselves, and, jumping 
into the water, pried with their long poles against the bow 
and stern until the steamer was once more afloat, when we 
soon arrived at our stopping-place for the night, and just 
before a terrific rain-storm came on. We were quartered in 
an enormous two-story house, whose windows contained each 
forty-eight panes of glass — not on account ,of the largeness of 
the windows, but on account of the smallness of the panes. 
The people owned about a dozen slaves, who at the time of our 
arrival, at nine in the evening, were engaged in pounding 
corn, singing in unison the while, notwithstanding the day's 
labor had lasted so long. After drinking coffee and exchang- 
ing compliments with the host and hostess in the parlor, I 
was ushered into one of the little inner unventilated bed- 
rooms with which all Brazilian farm-houses seem to abound. 
My heart sunk within me as I entered this dark closet, but 
rose at once upon catching sight of my pillow, exactly eight 
inches by four in size, but covered with embossed and em- 
broided birds and flowers and vines. 

We started about six o'clock the next morning, the river 
being extremely tortuous and the palm-leaf tufts very beau- 
tiful, as sharply outlined against the dense forests. The 
light green of the corn-fields also contrasted prettily with the 
dark green of the woods. There were many large trees in 
full bloom, of beautiful colors. The navigation now became 
much better, and we boomed along at a famous rate, the 
river continuing from three to five hundred feet in width. 
There was much fine pasture upon the higher hills. I no- 
ticed many cords attached to low poles near the banks. 
These were the set lines used by the people for fishing. 



288 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

They employ a live bait, a sort of minnow, and examine 
their lines twice a day. The river is full of edible fish. 
There are also water-hogs, but no alligators. I saw many 
canoes, thirty feet in length and only two in width and two 
in depth, hollowed from a single trunk and propelled not by 
oars or paddles, the men sitting, but with poles, and men 
standing. There were many small mud huts, with doors, 
but without windows, the smoke escaping, as best it might, 
through the roof. About these huts were generally raised 
coffee, sugar-cane, tobacco, beans, bananas, and cotton. Just 
enough of the latter is grown by the natives to make their 
own clothes, cloth for which the women weave upon a loom 
of the most primitive construction. At one hut where I 
landed was an automatic corn-smasher, or rice-huller, in op- 
eration. Briefly, the machine was a long, balanced stick of 
timber, arranged with a sort of hammer at one end, and with 
a large hollow for holding water at the other. The water 
having filled the hollow, the log naturally tilted, spilling the 
water, causing it to descend and the hammer to strike forci- 
bly the corn or rice placed under it in a mortar. The pro- 
cess was slow (which does not matter much in Brazil) but 
labor-saving (which matters very much in Brazil). The 
pounding is done not only slowly but also very imperfectly, 
and one marvels at the lazy ingenuity of these people, where 
a little honest work would effect so much. We reached 
Jaguara at three o'clock in the afternoon, and made fast to 
the bank, next to an old side-wheel steamer, which, after 
having been sunk for the past fifteen years, at some distance 
down the river, had just been raised, and was being refitted 
for a freight-boat. 

Jaguara is simply the name of what was once one of the 
largest farms in Brazil. It was sold some years since, and 
one half was bought for its timber by the mining company. 
The English engineer of the steamer and his family take 
charge of the place, and are the only foreigners living in the 
neighborhood. All the buildings necessary to a grand estate 
are here, though they are now going to rack and ruin. There 



ON THE BIO DAS VELHAS. 289 

is first a large manor-house, then the superintendent's, priest's, 
and doctor's houses, huts for the slaves, an immense sugar- 
mill, and all the customary appliances for making sugar and 
rum, implements for pounding rice and corn, machinery for 
making oil from the castor-oil plant, a saw-mill, huge store- 
houses, a chemist's shop, rooms for visitors, a dance-hall, sta- 
bles, pig-sties, fowl-sheds, etc. I must not forget to men- 
tion the church, quite a large one. It is in a good state of 
preservation, though bearing the date 1786. Some of the 
wooden pillars on the exterior, after a century of exposure, 
are still as hard as rock. The church contains some very- 
good carvings, all the wood being of a fineness and hardness 
akin to lignum-vitse. The subjects of both paintings and 
carvings run largely to cherubim and seraphim. The floor 
is occupied by numbered but nameless graves. Bats and 
owls are now the only regular attendants at service, but when 
decorated and illumined, and filled with senoritas and cava- 
liers in their quaint country costumes, the scene must have 
been very pretty. Attached to the church are the customary 
school-room and robing-room, the robes having been pre- 
served in carved bureaus of ponderous plank. The wood- 
work of the manor-house is also of the most massive charac- 
ter, and frequently carved. A flight of stone steps, reaching 
one of the doors, has in it solid blocks twenty feet in length. 
The ceilings are paneled in wood, and painted in neat pat- 
terns of gay colors, which are but little dimmed through age. 
On the ceiling of the hall is blazoned the coat-of-arms of the 
former owner. The roads about the house are paved with 
huge cobble-stones. There are two large orchards full of 
orange, lemon, guava, lime, and other fruit trees. A hand- 
some large flower-garden likewise is its own excuse for 
being. But all of these are now simply a tangle of the wild- 
est vegetation, though one may follow some of the old paths 
and see what they must have been when in their prime. 
Near the manor are the quarters of the slaves, surrounded 
by a wall fifteen feet high to prevent their escape at night. 
This rich old family owned several hundred slaves. Their 

19 



290 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

quarters were like those already visited at San Paulo, little 
pens ten feet square, more suited to the abode of animal than 
human beings. The family rooms were separated by a parti- 
tion, with an opening, but no door. Sometimes two fami- 
lies were placed in one of the diminutive rooms. The rooms 
occupied by the unmarried slaves were like the wards of a 
hospital, on a small scale, for here they slept in rows upon 
straw pallets. All the rooms were arranged in a quadrangle, 
with but one gateway. In the court-yard here the English 
engineer and superintendent showed me the skin of a great 
boa which he had killed a few days before. It was about 
twenty feet in length and ten inches in diameter. He did 
not wish to injure the skin by shooting the reptile, which 
was up a small tree, so he attached a stout cord with a noose 
to the end of a pole and slipped it over the serpent's neck, 
choking it, and then he cut its throat. It was a very excit- 
ing performance, and took the man quite half an hour. The 
natives who discovered this boa all ran away, of course, when 
they saw the dangerous method prepared for its capture. 
The skin bore a regular succession of spots, alternately black 
and yellow, along its back. There are a great many snakes 
in this section of Brazil, some of the smaller ones being very 
venomous. On my return to Morro Velho I passed three or 
four sunning themselves in the road. 

The little steamer on which I had come down the river 
requiring seven da} r s for the trip up-stream, and not leaving 
for a couple of days, I decided to return on mule-back — espe- 
cially upon learning that the road was about half of the 
length of the tortuous river journey. I took a guide, in 
addition to my own servant, and passed Ihrough a country 
partly of pasture, with a few trees, and partly of forest. In 
coming through the forest I frequently saw monkeys playing 
upon the trees, but they were rather suspicious, and scam- 
pered off at a near approach. They were of a blackish color, 
with some white spots about the head. There were also 
many huge conical ant-hills, the same as in Paraguay, and 
numerous mud beehive-shaped structures upon the trees. 



ON THE RIO DAS TELE AS. 291 

One variety of these hives is also inhabited by a species of 
ant, and another is used as a nest by a peculiar bird. About 
six o'clock in the evening we came down from the hills, and 
crossed the Kio das Yelhas by a long wooden bridge, and 
then, after a steep climb upon the opposite bank, we reached 
the large town of Santa Luzia. It is a long, straggling place, 
consisting mostly of but a single street running along the 
crest of a low range of hills. The houses are chiefly of one 
story, with windows of which the upper half is glass, the 
lower blinds. As I rode along, most of the doors and win- 
dows were closed, and at first I supposed the people were at 
dinner, but I soon caught glimpses, at nearly every window, 
of girls and women peeping forth to see the new arrival. I 
passed a two-story town-hall, a part of which formed a jail. 
In one room was a prisoner playing upon a guitar ; at a win- 
dow some one was handing in a bottle of rum. A convict's 
life in Brazil does not appear to be altogether an unhappy 
one. I put up at the " Hotel Populaire," French by name, 
but Portuguese by nature. In its small rooms are ceilings of 
colored bamboos, woven into simple patterns with pleasing 
effect. The parlor has a massive carved table, mirrors, a 
cane-seated sofa, and chairs. The bedrooms have simply 
bare bedsteads, wash-stands, and possibly chairs, though prob- 
ably not. In the hotels of Brazil the room is furnished and 
" made up " after it is engaged. Mattresses and sheets are 
brought in, also toilet apparatus, and perhaps a couple of 
chairs, if they can be found about the premises. The table 
contained the usual fair variety — no condiments and no des- 
sert of any kind, however. My kind and thoughtful friend 
at Morro Yelho having sent me two fresh mules from his 
own fine stock, I started on at daylight, riding over a much 
rougher country than that of the day before, and getting 
many extended and beautiful views of the great green bil- 
lowy sea of verdure. The hills being nearly all of the same 
height, the few exceptional ones a trifle higher, merely had 
the same billowy effect that one perceives upon the ocean. 
I had a rough descent, over a very steep piece of road, to the 



292 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

town of Sahara, which is situated on much lower ground 
than Santa Luzia. Crossing the Rio das Yelhas by a good 
wooden bridge, I soon reach my point of departure in the 
little steamer, and in two hours thereafter I am back again in 
the comfortable house of Mr. Chalmers, listening to the eter- 
nal clatter of the neighboring stamping-mills. 

From Morro Velho I went to Ouro Preto, the capital of 
the province, and fifty-six miles distant, a good portion of 
the road being the same as that upon which I had come to 
the great gold-mine. The day was very hot, and, though my 
mules had had several days' rest, and the benefit of good food 
and stabling, they seemed by the middle of the afternoon 
quite tired out. The mules, and horses also, in Brazil, have 
nothing like the strength and endurance of those in Ecuador, 
Peru, and Bolivia. And in Brazil the roads are very much 
better, being generally sufficiently level for carts, whereas 
on the west coast they are usually only rough trails, which 
are often very steep. Again, the pack-mules are treated 
much better here than there, having great wads of straw 
under their saddles, and being fed with corn as well as grass. 
Also, the more frequent occurrence of road-side inns in Brazil 
than on the other side of South America allows travelers a 
greater opportunity for rest, in which, of course, their beasts 
participate. But notwithstanding these facts, the Brazil 
mules can not compare with those of the western republics. 
Doubtless some allowance must be made in that the former 
experience the tropic heat of comparative lowlands, while 
the latter spend a good part of their existence upon the 
cold slopes or the summits of the sub-Andean chain. I 
stopped for the night at Rio das Pedras, but at another and 
a much better hotel than upon my upward journey. The 
next day I followed the same road by which I came, until 
noon, and then struck due east, ascending one of the spurs of 
a long range of hills running north and south, and on the 
eastern side of which lies Ouro Preto. Turning abruptly 
the extremity of this spur, we began to descend over a very 
steep, rough road, paved in part with huge flat stones, which 



ON THE RIO DAS VELHAS. 293 

in the rainy season may have kept the water from washing 
the road away, but which did not at all facilitate the progress 
of our animals. After a considerable amount of slipping 
and stumbling, and a few falls, and after passing many mule- 
troops, and a few carts with numerous oxen attached, I at 
last caught sight of Ouro Preto, lying along the side and in 
the hollow of a narrow valley completely surrounded by high, 
rock-capped hills. Away to the southeast arose the peak of 
Itacolumi, a little over a mile high, with its curious great 
bowlder of granite standing abruptly forth. All about the 
hills were the great, rough, red and gray, yellow and brown 
holes made by the old miners and enlarged and washed by 
the rains. I entered the main street. Ouro Freto, in fact, 
seems composed chiefly of one thoroughfare, which winds 
up, down, and about the valley for a distance of four miles, 
often at an angle of thirty-five degrees, and scarcely straight 
for a hundred yards together, as it nears the center of the 
town. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CIRCLING BACK TO EIO. 

The situation of Ouro Preto is very picturesque. It is 
like one of the towns in the Tyrol. The lower part of the 
surrounding hills is covered with dark-green grass and shrubs. 
The trees are few and small. Through the valley run several 
attenuated streams, which are frequently crossed by quaint 
old stone bridges. A number of hillocks adorn the valley, 
and those which are not crowned by churches, with long and 
imposing approaches of paved road, or nights of stone steps, 
are covered by dwellings. No two houses seem to be of the 
same size or shape, or to contain the same number of stories, 
or to be built upon the same level. They are, in fact, actu- 
ally terraced up the sides of the hills. Next the street and 
facing it they may be one story in height, while upon the 
other end they will frequently be three stories. Two thirds 
of the town are fully three hundred feet below the remain- 
der. The street along which I rode was badly paved with 
rough cobble-stones, and upon certain portions great flat slabs 
were laid for pedestrians. There was sometimes also a side- 
walk about eighteen inches wide. The side streets go almost 
directly either up or down, and even the long main street 
has sections almost inaccessible by any animal save a mule, 
steps being here used by pedestrians. Of course, there are 
no carriages at Ouro Preto. Access to the lower part of the 
town must be had by long, winding roads. There were fre- 
quent iron posts, topped by kerosene-lamps. At nearly every 
corner were little shrines containing sacred effigies, with can- 
dles and other lights burning before them. I put up at the 



CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 295 

best hotel, which provided a very fair table, though the 
rooms were small and dirty. The founding of Ouro Preto 
was undertaken many years ago — I noticed a curious old 
bridge with the date of 1745 — by the Portuguese, with no 
attempt to select a suitable site, but simply to be convenient 
to the mines which they were working. Though stores of all 
kinds abound, there is slight business, the neighboring mines 
paying little or nothing. However, Ouro Preto is the capi- 
tal of one of the finest provinces of the empire, the residence 
of the president and other officials, which will always make 
it a place of considerable importance. To the trav3ler it is 
of special interest, from the picturesqueness of its situation 
and the quaintness of its buildings, especially the churches. 
The towers and little bulbous cupolas of the churches, and 
the white, blue, and yellow walls of the dwellings, give it, in 
fact, a half-Oriental aspect. . There is a flavor, too, of great 
age in the weather-stained buildings, and the dull red of the 
tiled roofs has a sort of dreamy, lifeless air which makes the 
spot quite romantic. There are many odd old fountains by 
the sides of the roads. They are generally built of brick or 
stone, with some kind of ornamental figure spouting water 
into a large stone basin. They are often painted in a variety 
of gaudy colors. The water comes from springs in the neigh- 
boring hills, and is very wholesome. 

About the center of the town a high ridge reaches at 
right angles almost across the valley. Upon this stand the 
government-house, the municipal congress-hall, the treasury, 
the prison, and some five churches. The government-house 
contains many provincial offices, and is the residence of the 
President of Minas-Geraes. In front of it is a small inclosed 
garden, a poor one, too, the solitary example in Ouro Preto. 
Upon the opposite side of this is the rather imposing public 
prison, a large, square, two-story building, on a fine site. It 
is painted yellow, and has very queer old statues upon the 
angles of its roof. It looks much more like a palace than 
that at present occupied by the president, which, with its 
plain yellow two stories, its peaked, tiled roof and its heavy 



296 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

walls, buttresses, and sentry-boxes, looks much more like a 
citadel than a palace. The tower of the prison has a large 
clock, with the minute-hand missing. As an offset, the clock- 
tower of one of the principal churches has only the minute- 
hand. These are good illustrations of one of the most notice- 
able of Brazilian failings, an inability to comprehend the im- 
portance of time. To know somewhere about the hour of 
the day is sufficient for the average Brazilian ; he rarely both- 
ers himself concerning the minutes. There is also a general 
incapacity to estimate and appreciate distance. When trav- 
eling on the road, and inquiring how far it is to the next 
town, you will often receive the answer that it is half a 
league, more or less, and you will afterward find it as much 
as two whole leagues and several hours of hard riding. I 
visited the parish church of Antonio Dias, and found it full 
of curious old rude carvings, gilded and painted white ; also 
the church of San Francisco d'Assis. The facade of the 
latter has much stone- work, and high above the door an 
effigy of Saint Francis carved in high-relief, and a creditable 
performance, judged from an artistic standpoint. The inte- 
rior contains a very remarkable ceiling painting which fills 
the whole oval of the nave. There are also some good paint- 
ings in the sacristy, and a well-carved stone fountain against 
the wall and reaching to the ceiling. Ouro Preto — which 
has a population of about twelve thousand — boasts of a small 
theatre, three newspapers, each published three times a week, 
billiard-saloons, barracks containing three hundred troops of 
the line, and an effective police department. A good School 
of Mines, a simple-looking building, stands high upon one of 
the hills, and is admirably adapted to its purpose. Besides 
class-rooms, laboratories, and scientific apparatus of every 
sort, it contains a capital collection of minerals, the province 
of Minas-Geraes being especially well represented. At pres- 
ent some forty or fifty pupils attend this school, which gives 
a rather general training in physics, chemistry, zoology, and 
botany. The mines about Ouro Preto not now generally 
being in a profitable condition, it is perhaps better that the 




A Wealthy Negress. 



CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 297 

training of these young men should not be exclusively devoted 
to mining and metallurgy. I esteemed myself fortunate in 
being shown the sights of Ouro Preto by a French gentleman, 
a professor in the School of Mines, M. Arthur Thire. 

I left Ouro Preto at daylight for Teixeiras, about ninety 
miles to the southeast, and the terminus of the Leopoldina 
Railway, which joins the Dom Pedro II. line at Entre Rios. 
A good road led down the valley, at whose bottom ran a 
mountain torrent, and then, after about eight miles, I reached 
Marianna, a little town lying upon a low spur projecting into 
a valley and surrounded by an amphitheatre of prettily di- 
versified hills. We next passed through San Sebastian, a 
long, straggling village of miserable-looking mud huts, be- 
longing to negroes. Many of them being closed and locked, 
I imagined their owners were out at work, and, upon looking 
at the river below me, I saw very many people with great 
wooden trays washing the sands for gold. Daring all my 
journeys through Minas-Geraes I had been struck by the great 
number of negroes who seemed to constitute quite three 
fourths of the population, and for the most part were very 
poor and shabby, both in their personal appearance and in 
their houses. This is true of the smaller towns and of the 
province generally, but in Ouro Preto, since it is the capital, 
many government officials and shopkeepers are either ne- 
groes or mulattoes. The great coffee-plantations belong to 
the Brazilian Creoles, who also manage the railways, both at 
the stations and aboard the trains. The Europeans in Minas- 
Geraes are usually connected with either the railways, as con- 
tractors or engineers, or the gold-mines, as officials or miners. 
Gold occurs in all parts of Minas-Geraes. Poor people out of 
money simply go to the rivers and wash for gold, and then 
literally " come down with the dust," which is accepted in the 
shops as coin, the shopkeepers knowing exactly how to calcu- 
late its worth by measurement. I may add that in Brazil ne- 
groes, who are, of course, the descendants of slaves imported 
from Africa, actually form one fifth of the population. The 
road continued quite good. I passed by cultivated land and 



298 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

pasture, though the country seemed slightly peopled save in 
towns, or, more properly, villages. Little grain grew except 
maize. Bananas everywhere flourished wild. In one place 
I passed four long rows of bee-hives, the bees swarming 
about in thousands and making a tremendous noise with 
their wings. Many streams which coursed down to the 
bottoms of the valleys were utilized by neighboring farmers 
as a water-power for grinding their corn. In several of the 
road-side inns in which I stopped I noticed Yankee clocks 
and sewing-machines, with an incongruity of surroundings 
almost appalling. I reached Ponte Nova the following 
afternoon, a small town lying along the banks of a swiftly 
flowing and muddy stream. The narrow-gauge track of the 
new railway is laid to within a few miles of Ponte Nova. 
Its course is exactly that of a corkscrew, and it seems to con- 
sist mostly of deep cuttings and high fillings. The system 
on which Brazilian hotels are conducted is always amusing. 
Everything is consumed at each meal, nothing whatever of 
an edible sort remaining over. So, one morning, when I 
wished some rolls with my early breakfast, I had to send 
a boy to wake up the baker, who transmitted by my mes- 
senger just one small roll. If, therefore, you wish anything 
to eat between meals, you will not get it unless the baker or 
butcher shop is open, and even then you will frequently be 
disappointed. I have asked, in the afternoon, for boiled 
eggs, to be served early next morning, and have been told 
that there were none in the hotel ; and twelve hours later, 
instead of the eggs, have received the expression of the 
landlord's regret that he had none to give me ! These hotels 
are, besides, the most noisy places on earth, save possibly 
some overcrowded bedlams. At table the people shout at 
each other as if all were deaf; and in coming in late at 
night, or going out early in the morning, they make as 
much racket and uproar as if there were nobody asleep 
within five miles of them. Their politeness struck me also 
as very superficial. On the road the same man who would 
ceremoniously dofl his hat, would stand staring at me near 



CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 299 

a closed gate, wliile I descended from my horse to open it. 
The courtesy of social etiquette requires only some knowl- 
edge and a good memory ; but the thought of another's 
interest, and the wish to aid and assist him, not only with, 
ready sympathy but actual work, these necessitate, refine- 
ment of feeling and generous impulse. From Teixeiras I 
was to go on by rail; so I paid off Hippolyte, adding a 
largess in token of his faithful services. He was to return 
at daybreak witli the animals to Lafayette, by the way of 
Ouro Preto. Though this was the rainy season, I had been 
vouchsafed very good weather, with air clear as crystal, and 
highly exhilarating ; and, though the thermometer had some- 
times risen to 100° in the shade, it had not proved itself 
a debilitating heat. The nights were invariably comfort- 
able, and even cool enough to require a blanket toward 
early morning. In that part of the world the difference of 
temperature between midday and midnight is always very 
great, but the abrupt change does not prove insalubrious to 
either natives or foreigners. 

I left Teixeiras at 2 p. m. for the town of San Geraldo, 
where I had to remain all night, and then go on to Paque- 
quer, on the Parahyba River, about thirty miles to the north- 
eastward of Entre Rios, through which I passed on my way 
north to the gold-mines of Morro Yelho. The first part of 
the railway journey was specially interesting in disclosing 
how very crooked a railway could be without eventually 
arriving at the place whence it started. None but a narrow- 
gauge road, certainly, could have made the very short curves 
we did. The grade also was very steep. There is hardly a 
straight quarter of a mile on the whole road, but this is ne- 
cessary, for so steep is it that there would otherwise have to 
be a series of reverse tangents. There were many deep cut- 
tings, at first through earth ; but afterward, when, from the 
hills to which we had gradually risen we came to descend 
to the valley that holds San Geraldo, most of the excava- 
tions were through rock. This descent was a capital copy, 
in miniature, of the famous Arequipa Railway, in southern 



300 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Peru, already described in these pages. Notwithstanding 
that I had already seen the latter, I must call this part of the 
Leopoldina line a very remarkable piece of engineering. We 
frequently saw three portions of the railroad at one and the 
same time. Once, at least, it wound completely around the 
summit of a small hill, in order to effect a fall of about thirty 
feet. Again, there would be long distances when two sec- 
tions of the road would run parallel, not more than fifty 
feet apart. The locomotives and cars on this little line are of 
American make, the former coming from Philadelphia, the 
latter from Paterson. Owing to the enormous fall of water 
during the rainy season, it is very difficult to keep the em- 
bankments of the road in order. They are either sliding 
from above upon the track, or down into the valley from 
under it. It is mostly a virgin forest through which this 
railway has been cut, and from every spur or hill-summit we 
get just such magnificent views of the billowy plain as when 
on mule-back riding to Morro Yelho. San Geraldo is an 
ordinary little town, and I left it at the rather uncom- 
fortable hour of 4.15 a. m. for Paquequer. The second half 
of the journey led through immense coffee-plantations, and 
some of the finest coffee grown is said to come from this 
part of the province of Minas-Geraes. Two freight-cars of 
our train were filled with bags of coffee, as were many of 
the station-houses at which we stopped. At Paquequer, I 
changed cars for the station of Sumidouro, about twenty 
miles distant, on the Paquequer River, which the railroad 
follows from its junction with the Parahyba, and which is 
in the province of Rio Janeiro. The line was in process 
of extension from here some five miles up the valley, and 
to this point I was obliged to walk, hiring a boy to carry my 
luggage, there being neither a hotel at the station nor mules 
to carry me to the hotel, which is situated in a little town 
called Rio Grande. I expected to obtain mules at Sumi- 
douro, in order to cross the hills, thirty miles to the eastward, 
to the town of Canto Gallo. This is the terminus of the 
Nova Friburgo Railway, which runs direct to Nictheroy, 



CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 301 

on the bay opposite Kio, connecting therewith by steam- 
ferry. 

There seemed to be plenty of animals about, but every- 
body said they were in use, and refused to send any with me, 
even for double price. I was much amused at one man of 
whom I inquired the distance to Canto Gallo. His reply 
was, " Sixteen or twenty miles, more or less." I told him I 
could guess myself, and so need not have asked him. He 
merely shrugged his shoulders, and laughed at my sarcasm. 
It being quite impossible to obtain horses or mules at Sumi- 
douro, I was forced to walk five miles back to the station, 
and take a train about fifteen miles to Nossa Senhora do 
Carrao, at which little town good animals were found. I at 
once set forth with a guide over the mountains to Canto 
Gallo. At first the road passed through many coffee-planta- 
tions, then through the most superb forest I had yet seen, 
with trees one hundred and fifty feet in height, orchids, ferns, 
and an impenetrable network of leaves. Leaving the forest, 
we again crossed several extensive coffee-plantations, with 
large farm-houses, and many male and female slaves at work 
in the fields. At the extremity of one of the valleys which 
we had entered, was an enormous cliff whose vertical sides 
were nearly covered with orchids, and opposite to this was 
a mountain, about fifteen hundred feet in height, whose pre- 
cipitous and bulbous flanks were wholly composed of smooth 
rock, only a few trees crowning the summit. The scenery 
was remarkably fine all the afternoon, but we had a tremen- 
dous rain-storm which made the road so slippery that we 
reached Canto Gallo only after being nine hours in the sad- 
dle. We rode along a wide, paved street to the best hotel, 
where we were glad enough to go soon to bed. 

The locomotives used upon the Nova Friburgo line are 
of the powerful Baldwin (Philadelphia) make. The cars are 
little toy affairs, about as small and as light as could well be 
utilized. The first half of the route to Nictheroy was 
among the mountains, through most superb scenery. The 
latter part was over a comparatively level plain, and, there- 



302 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

fore, not specially interesting. Nothing but corn and coffee 
covered the first portion, and there were great quantities of 
both. The first large town we reached was Nova Friburgo, 
which, surrounded by hills and filled with canals and broad 
streets, reminded me very much of Petropolis, as indeed 
Petropolis, in turn, had reminded me of some Swiss town, 
or, more minutely, of a town half Dutch, half Swiss. A 
large party of German-Swiss colonists laid out and settled 
Nova Friburgo in 1S20. The old, original Fribourg, favor- 
ably known to tourists from the famous organ in its cathe- 
dral, is, of course, in Switzerland. The colony was broken 
up a few years afterward, but many of their descendants are 
still living in the place. Charming walks and drives abound 
in the neighborhood. The hotels are good, and the people 
are exceedingly hospitable and obliging. The altitude of 
the town is twenty-eight hundred feet above the sea. The 
climate is cool and invigorating, and the scenery almost Al- 
pine in character. Leaving Nova Friburgo, we rapidly rose 
to the summit of the Serra da Boa Yista, which is simply an 
extension of the Organ Mountains. The same range, by-the- 
by, which runs in a general course of east and west through 
the province of Rio Janeiro, has as many as ten different 
names. This is a common and confusing custom in Brazil- 
ian geographical nomenclature. Fourteen miles from Nova 
Friburgo we attain the highest elevation of the road, thirty- 
three hundred and fifty feet. The scenery, during the de- 
scent, is even more beautiful than that upon the serra of 
Petropolis, being much wilder, and with wider prospects, 
while the engineering of the road is even more remarkable 
than that of the Leopoldina line. It was possible to build it 
only upon the Fell system, whose third and central rail, to- 
gether with the very narrow gauge, admits of curves of only 
one hundred and fifty feet radius, around which our little 
train dashed at full speed. In fact, our speed all day, both 
up and down the mountains, was astonishing, the steepest 
grade being eight feet in one hundred. In descending the 
serra a brakeman was attached to each car. The sharpest 



CIRCLING BACK TO EIO. 303 

curves in the United States are no less than three hundred 
feet radius, but in Colorado I have seen a short line, which 
is used to bring ore to the Pueblo furnaces, worked bj a lo- 
comotive over a seven-per-cent grade. This I believe to be 
the steepest grade in the world surmounted by ordinary loco- 
motives on smooth rails. Verily, it would seem that where 
a mule can go, the locomotive has been made to follow. 

At one point in the Boa Yista Mountains a terrific tor- 
rent, swollen by the recent great rains, had swept away a 
bridge and a long stretch of the railroad. Here we had to 
leave our train and walk down to an improvised bridge, span- 
ning an enormous gully, through which the stream still raged 
over large bowlders of loosely strewed rocks. Crossing, we 
found another train awaiting us upon the opposite bank, and 
on we went again, this time with a very compact and power- 
ful French locomotive. That part of the range near There- 
sopolis, specifically styled the Organ Mountains, character- 
ized by needle-like spires, now stood grandly forth. And 
we had not gone many miles farther before the peak of 
Tijuca, behind the city of Rio, was dimly marked against 
the heavens. Next I saw my old friend the Corcovado, and 
then the massy Sugar-Loaf, whose changeless serenity, com- 
pared with the transiency of individual human lives, reminded 
me of Turgeneff's remarkable prose-poem on mountains. We 
arrived at Nietheroy, seven hours from Canto Gallo. Nic- 
theroy is a large flat town, with tramways extending in every 
direction, and a handsome public garden. At the northern ex- 
tremity are a large arsenal and good ship-building docks. To 
Rio we took a ferry-boat, much like those plying in New York 
Harbor, though without provision for horses and carriages. It 
takes about half an hour to cross the bay. Once more 1 drink 
in the wonderful and beautiful panorama. From a few not 
very widely separated points you get a score of distinct Rios. 
These are views of which I am sure I never could tire. It is 
fairy-land. Especially alluring is the entrance to the harbor, 
through which you can look far out to sea. But the spell is 
broken as I land and take the tram to the English hotel. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 

On the 13th of March I left Eio, in one of the Hamburg 
line of steamers, for the city of Bahia, the second in size, 
though not in commercial importance, in Brazil. It is about 
one thousand miles distant from the capital. We had a full 
list of passengers, among them many Brazilians. The sum- 
mits of the Organ Mountains were veiled in bright, fleecy 
clouds. The vari-colored city shone resplendent in the early 
morning sun, the towers of the churches being sharply out- 
lined against dark-green hills. In company with several 
large steamers, we wended our way to the harbor's mouth. 
Passing between the grand old Sugar Loaf and the grim, gray 
fort of Santa Cruz, with our ensign lowered and raised, as 
though in recognition of both, we signaled good-by, our 
salutation being slowly returned from the fortress. We 
turned from the south to the east, and, passing between two 
small, rocky islands, I took my last view of Rio de Janeiro — 
strange, dreamy, charming Rio. The shore along which we 
skirted presented the same odd jumble of hills as those to 
the westward of the entrance to the famous bay. We car- 
ried a distinct cloudless view of the peaks of Tijuca and 
Gavea, almost up to Cape Frio; but, upon rounding this 
point, we steered away to the northeast, and in a few hours 
were out of sight of land. 

At daylight, on the morning of the fourth day from Rio, 
we sighted the range of hills at the entrance to the harbor of 
Bahia, and a few hours thereafter lay at anchor in the semi- 
circular roadstead, near the shore. For quite a distance, both 



THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 305 

north and east of the city, you behold from the offing no 
land more than five hundred feet above sea-level. The bay 
of Bahia lies north and south, like that of Bio, and it is about 
the same size and shape. The entrance of the former, how- 
ever, is much wider, being about ten miles across. While 
the city of Rio is a little distance within and upon the left 
side, Bahia is upon the right hand, and really begins quite at 
the eastern headland of the harbor, where there is a tall, 
round lighthouse. Upon the opposite side is a large island, 
called Itaparica. This is plainly seen, but the remainder of 
the deeply indented shores of the bay, with many small 
islands, looms low and vague through the misty distance. 
At the lighthouse is a fort ; a short distance farther north 
another, then another ; then out in the water, a short distance 
from shore, upon a rock, a fourth, a huge round castle whose 
top is covered with nearly a complete circle of guns. Several 
other forts stand on the opposite side of the city, some near 
the water, others high upon the bluff, but none that I have 
mentioned would be any protection against a modern ironclad. 
Near us, as we lie at anchor, are three or four large foreign 
steamers and two or three smaller Brazilian coasting steamers. 
A little farther off are perhaps fifty sailing-vessels, mostly 
of small tonnage and of miscellaneous nationalities, together 
with many native lighters and small boats. The situation of 
Bahia is very peculiar. Had it not been for her good harbor 
facilities — though no loaded vessels can come to the wharves 
— it is doubtful if such a site would have been selected. All 
along the shore, at a distance varying from a couple of hun- 
dred to a thousand feet, extends a precipitous blnff about two 
hundred feet in height. There is, then, no room along the 
shore for an entire city, and the steep roads that scale the 
cliff, upon and beyond which are the private residences, were 
very expensive in construction. The business part of the 
city, therefore, lies next the bay. The residences line the 
bluff, and extend some distance into the country, which is 
well supplied with roads, rivers, lakes, and hills — plains there 
are none. The peculiarity of the situation of Bahia adds, 

20 



306 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

however, little to its picturesqueness as seen from the bay. 
Unlike Bio, the houses are of three, four, and even five sto- 
ries. As room could not be had in a horizontal direction, it 
must needs be taken in a vertical, as in the New York flats. 
It is a very old city, and the architecture is everywhere of 
the quaintest description. Viewed from the harbor, the 
white and yellow walls of the huge warehouses, with their 
iron-latticed windows, the dwellings with little balconies and 
green jalousies, with an abundance of verdure appearing in 
every direction, make a fine picture. But it is, after all, 
rather a monotonous picture, for Bahia possesses few if any 
public buildings of any special merit. The cupola and 
spires of the cathedral and two or three other churches, and 
the great tower of the elevator which conveys people from 
the lower to the upper town, alone give diversity to the long 
lines of shining white and yellow walls. But when I land 
I see better the reason of it all — Bahia is altogether a com- 
mercial city. It is a great emporium of tobacco, sugar, and 
coffee. 

Along the sea-front is a large open-air market, with every 
sort of fish, fruit, and vegetables, offered for sale by giant ne- 
gresses. Bahia is famous for these enormous black women. 
They are very fond of finery. You will often see them engaged 
at work, wearing chemises deeply fringed and inlaid with 
lace, with heavy gold chains about their necks, and many 
bracelets. The negroes who labor about the wharves and 
warehouses possess extraordinary muscular development of 
the arms and shoulders. Besides the employment of these 
in bearing burdens, they use also hand-carts, and sometimes 
mule-carts. A laughing darkey, with the physique of a 
Hercules, and a skin shining like satin, tosses my heavy iron- 
bound trunk upon his head, and starts off up the hill for the 
hotel, a distance of quite half a mile. There are several paved 
roads that ascend the cliff. Most of them are too steep for 
carriages, but one long street, supported at intervals by huge 
arches of masonry, is of an easy grade, and must have been of 
enormous cost. Facing these thoroughfares, in the most in- 



THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 307 

accessible places, you find great four-story houses braced by 
gigantic stone buttresses. Sedan-chairs are still employed 
in Bahia for carrying women up the bluff. These palanquins 
are merely chairs attached to long poles borne upon the 
shoulders of two men. A black cloth covering giyes them 
rather a funereal look. I do not follow the porter, but walk 
through the business streets, that I may get a general idea of 
the whole city, before making a special study of any part of 
it. The tramway, which has been so generally domesticated 
in South America, runs here in the few available directions. 
Bahia is full of striking contrasts. In some streets, hardly 
ten feet in width, you are back in mediaeval times ; in others, 
broad, neatly paved, well lighted, with fine, wide sidewalks, 
you are once more in the modern world of to-day. In the 
heart of the lower town have been crowded four or five 
parallel streets, between the bluff and the shore of the bay, 
but along the remainder of the bay there is room for but a 
single lane. As the merchants, in their cool, white suits 
and with sun-umbrellas, rushed by me, it seemed as if in my 
short walk before reaching the elevator, which was to hoist 
me to the upper town, I had heard a dozen languages. 
Here the population meet on common ground, and but for 
one purpose — to bring to each and all the ubiquitous Em- 
peror-emblazoned notes of the national treasury. At the 
base of the bluff you enter a massive stone building, with a 
display of machinery in motion and a strong smell of oil. 
It is dimly lighted, but you pass a turnstile, at the side of 
which you deposit a hundred reis, or five cents. You then 
wend your way along a damp, dirty, dark corridor, and be- 
hold a double elevator, though but one car is used at a time. 
That which you enter will hold twelve passengers, and is 
dimply lighted by a single lamp in one corner. In a mo- 
ment you are placed at the top of the bluff, and upon one 
side of the palace square, into which you pass through another 
self -registering gate. Upon one side of this square is the old 
Government-house, and before you is the Municipal Hall, 
both of these being quaint, decayed old piles. From the 



308 ' AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

little plaza you have a fine view over the harbor and the 
lower town. In the former you see the round fort, the ships, 
the steamers, and all the varied life of boats in motion ; but 
in the latter little more than a level of great, red-tiled roofs. 
Turning to the right I enter a narrow street of retail shops, 
pass the custom-house, and come out upon an extensive plaza, 
on a hill-side, containing some green lawns and a few large 
trees. Here are situated the theatre, a great, rough hulk out- 
wardly ; the two newspaper offices ; the best hotel of the city, 
a huge building live stories in height ; and here also seem to 
be the headquarters of several lines of tram-cars. Thus, be- 
fore I really arrive — before, at least, I reach my hotel — I have 
gained a fair general idea of the city of San Salvador, better 
known nowadays as Bahia. The hotel is kept by a Brazilian, 
and that is equivalent to saying it is not to be rated as first 
class. Down-stairs on the first floor is a great billiard-room, 
and adjoining it is the restaurant. Both of these rooms at 
night were packed, and the hubbub, frequently increased by 
itinerant musicians, was extraordinary. It was impossible 
to sleep before midnight, and even then woe be to you, O 
stranger, if a native have a room anywhere near yours ! He 
will probably act as if he were the sole occupant of the hotel, 
at least so far as whistling, or singing, or playing upon a 
piano, or talking, with blatant tongue, to a friend away down 
the hall, is concerned. The annoying characteristics of Bra- 
zilian hotels are noise, dirt, and fraudulent wines. 

Three main lines of tramway thread Bahia. One runs 
along the semicircular shore of the bay to the northern point. 
Some of the streets of the lower city through which this 
passes are not more than two feet wider than the cars, and 
the people had to step into the doorways of the stores to let 
us pass. The section of the city through which this line runs 
is very poor and squalid, and the negro element predominates. 
Another line goes across the country, in a southeasterly direc- 
tion, to a pretty little village called Rio Yermelho, situated 
directly upon the ocean, where many of the merchants of the 
city reside. The tram leads out to this suburb through 



THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 309 

groves of palms, bananas, and bread-fruit, and along a stream 
where all the linen of Bahia seemed to be washed, so great 
was the display of white garments upon the grass, and so 
many were the women at work. The beach at Rio Yermelho 
was covered with a sort of native fishing-raft, like, the cata- 
marans used at Madras and elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal — 
simply six timbers lashed together, with a high bench for a 
fisherman, or a passenger, another for the stepping of a mast, 
and another for holding a little cargo. Of course, this sort 
of craft will go over, or at least through, any surf. There is 
a good hotel at Rio Yermelho, where 1 found the salt air a 
pleasant change from that of Bahia. The remaining and 
third line of tramway runs along the bluff directly to the 
south, and ends at a short distance beyond the lighthouse. 
Most of the fine dwellings of Bahia are situated on or near 
this road — houses of peculiar architecture, surrounded by 
beautiful gardens of flowers. A good many foreigners live 
directly upon the beach, near the lighthouse. 

The churches of Bahia are all more or less interesting, 
both outside and inside, being a little removed from the or- 
dinary style of architecture and adornment. Several of them 
are nearly square. They have curious, old, frescoed ceilings, 
admirable wood-carvings, and marble pavements. I saw one of 
the great ceremonies of the Church, called the seven stations, 
which is in commemoration of the seven halts that Christ 
made while bearing his cross. An enormous and very ghastly 
efiigy of Christ, richly robed, and bowed under a huge cross, 
was borne through the streets, from church to church, re- 
maining each night in a different one. The procession which 
followed this image consisted of priests, a military band, a 
company of infantry, and the populace generally. In the 
afternoon, when the ecclesiastical journey was made, the 
whole city turned out in holiday attire to see, or to take part 
in, the procession. While the effigy is resting in the churches 
it is visited by great crowds, who kiss its feet, weep, pray, 
and finally give it some money — of which fund the ingenuous 
priests are, of course, trustees. Special services, attended by 



310 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the band and the military, are held all day in its honor. The 
scene in one of the churches, brilliantly decorated and illu- 
minated, was a fantastic hodge-podge I shall never forget. 
While the thorn-crowned Christ staggered under his cross, 
with a soldier on guard at each corner, the people prostrated 
themselves upon the floor in every attitude of humiliation 
and devotion, and the military band in the gallery played 
one of Offenbach's polkas ! The highest dignitaries and most 
intelligent men in the province sanction all this gaudy and 
repulsive spectacle, not only by their presence, but also by 
the conspicuous part they take in the processions. One 
of the cords of the canopy which is borne over the eQUgy 
is held by the president of the province, and another by 
the marshal in full uniform, both being bareheaded and 
on foot. 

The public buildings and institutions of Bahia require 
but little notice. The library, numbering some twenty thou- 
sand volumes, mostly in French and Portuguese, in fine bind- 
ings, is contained in the old Jesuit college adjoining the 
cathedral. It is a large, oblong room, overlooking the bay. 
The ceiling remains as it was painted by the Jesuits, and the 
colors, though of peculiar tints, are still quite bright. The 
library is used only for consultation — a long table, for the use 
of readers, occupying the center of the room. On the side 
of the cathedral opposite the library is the medical school, 
with three hundred students. It has a good library, exami- 
nation-hall, and class-rooms. A hospital, under charge of 
the Sisters of Mercy, adjoins. The theatre, which is near 
my hotel, is not a bad-looking edifice inside, with its four 
tiers of boxes, and large central box for the president of the 
province. It has also an extensive foyer, with paintings by 
Brazilian masters, and you may step from it upon a marble- 
paved portico commanding a splendid sweep of the bay and 
ocean. Directly in front of the theatre is a small marble 
statue of Christopher Columbus, with ornamental water- 
basins from which the negroes are all day busily engaged in 
filling their little barrels. Below the theatre, at the bottom 



THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 311 

of the bluff, stands the Jesuit church, built of white marble 
brought from Lisbon. The Public Garden of Bahia is situ- 
ated upon the bluff, a short distance south of the city. It is 
at present in very bad order. There is little attempt at land- 
scape gardening. It is filled, however, with huge mango- 
trees, and contains many fine palms and odd-looking tropical 
plants, of which I do not know the names. At the corner 
next the bay is a marble-paved terrace, commanding splendid 
views of the neighboring bay and distant ocean. There are 
tile-covered and shell-ornamented settees, statuary, and urns, 
all of fine quality. Promenading here on breezy afternoons, 
to the music of one of the military bands, the ladies and 
gentlemen of Bahia present a very animated and attractive 
picture. 

With the intention of seeing something of the interior, I 
left Bahia at noon, on the 20th, for the town of Cachoeira, 
across the bay and at the head of navigation on the Para- 
guassu River. As I have already said, the Bay of Bahia is 
like that of Rio in size and shape, and there the comparison 
ends. At Rio we have every variety of scenery, from the 
somber and grand to the graceful and pretty, but at Bahia it 
is all a monotonous, undiversified level of low hills, half cov- 
ered with scrub and half with grass. ¥e have a long, nar- 
row, iron, paddle-wheel steamer, crowded with passengers 
and freight. "We pass a small town on the northern end of 
the Island of Itaparica, and there is a village on the point 
which we round in entering the estuary of the river. At one 
town we land the mail in a bottle — that is, the bottle is 
thrown into the water, and men come after it in a dug-out. 
I see a number of these canoes,, deep and broad, in which 
the men paddle standing. From time to time we pass a to- 
bacco or sugar plantation, the farm buildings made of brick. 
At one point we stop and disembark some of our passengers 
in a small stern-wheel steamboat, which starts off with them, 
down a great open stretch of the river, to the town of Mara- 
gogipe. Once or twice passengers are put into the great ca- 
noes that come out from the shore, and,, sitting, in chairs, are 



312 AROUND AXD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

drawn by small sails quickly to land. There do not seem to 
be many cargo-boats. Those which I notice are not very 
large, but have three masts, with triangular-shaped sails. All 
the section of country through which the river passes seems 
to have been burned over at least once. It is quite smooth, mo- 
notonous, and uninteresting. Cachoeira, however, is a rather 
bustling business center. A railway extends hence in a north- 
westerly direction to Feira, about thirty miles. On the op- 
posite side of the river is quite a large suburb, and here are 
extensive railway-stations and the terminus of a road which 
runs in a generally westerly direction about two hundred 
miles. The line from Cachoeira is a branch of it. The two 
stations are joined across the river by a fine iron -girder 
bridge, with three stone piers. We were six hours in making 
the journey from Bahia, a distance of about sixty miles. 
From a neat, white, stuccoed station, I took the train to Fei- 
ra. It is a narrow-gauge road, with cars built on the Ameri- 
can plan, open from end to end. It passes through a tobacco- 
raising district, and depends for its freights almost altogether 
upon this product. At first we made a steep ascent of the 
hills, going to a distance, and then coming back. "We did 
not mount higher than a few hundred feet above the town. 
Subsequently we saw the latter from a remote point of view. 
Feira I found to be a large and comparatively new town, laid 
out with very wide streets and large plazas. Here I was 
hospitably welcomed by Mr. Joseph Mawson, the able and 
active superintendent of the " Brazilian Imperial Central 
Bahia Railway," who kindly placed his own private car 
at my disposition for visiting the whole of the main 
line, a generous offer of which I availed myself on the 
morrow. 

But one through train each way is run daily. The first- 
class carriages have comfortable revolving cane-chairs, on 
each side of a center passage-way ; the second-class cars have 
board seats along each side. The carriages are of English 
make, though of American pattern. The locomotives are of 
both English and American manufacture. We started with 



THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 313 

a long train, including a baggage and postal van, and several 
empty freight-cars. The line follows the general direction 
of the Paraguassu River, though at some distance from it 
until near the terminus. We turned at first directly away 
from the river, and began ascending a series of low hills. 
The face of the country was covered with second-growth for- 
ests. There were many stops, though, at but only the small- 
est of villages, and during the latter half of the journey the 
land appeared to be devoid of settlements. The road is run 
through a flat country to save expense, but at a distance of 
ten miles on either side it is very fertile and well culti- 
vated. It is a tobacco-growing region, but, as I have hinted, 
little of this plant was in actual sight from the line. The 
country in the far distance was level or undulating, and 
quite uninteresting until about half the journey was com- 
pleted, when, near the station of Tanquinho, the hills as- 
sumed an appearance similar to those round about the Bay 
of Rio Janeiro. I saw even a huge rock fac-simile of the 
Sugar-Loaf, and another of the table-topped Gavea. Some 
great domes of solid rock were visible, and in the face of a 
few hills were large caverns, one above the other. These 
cavities were open their full size, and presented a very 
strange appearance. The theory of their origin is that softer 
veins of the rock, disintegrating through many centuries, 
have left the deep hollows in this condition. It does not seem 
possible that they can have been made by primitive man. 
Once or twice we saw the Paraguassu River, and then for 
hours we coursed over a comparatively level plain, where all 
that seemed necessary to make a railway was to lay down the 
sleepers and put the rails upon them. The landscape dis- 
played a large proportion of palms and cacti, and many trees 
covered with the beautiful Spanish moss. About five o'clock 
we reached the terminus, a short street with a few wretched 
stores and a score of mud-walled and palm-thatched huts. 
Two days' mule-back ride from here are some surface dia- 
mond-washings, but the upper stratum supply is nearly ex- 
hausted, and they are going to mine for them. It is about 



314 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

one hundred and fifty miles hence to the nearest large town 
on the great San Francisco River. My car having been side- 
shunted, I was served with an excellent dinner, and, after a 
good night's rest in the cool country air, I returned, on the 
following morning, to Cachoeira, and on the next succeeding 
took the steamer back to Bahia. 



CHAPTEK XXXYL 

ON THE SAN FKANCISCO. 

From Bahia I intended to visit the great rapids of the 
San Francisco — called Paulo Alfonso — which are situated 
about one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth and the 
Atlantic. I took passage, therefore, first in a steamer of the 
"Bahia Steam Navigation Company" (a Brazilian line, 
which plies between Victoria, the capital of the province of 
Espiritu Santo, on the south, and Pernambuco, the capital of 
the province of Pernambuco, on the north), to Penedo, a 
small town twenty-five miles from the mouth of the San 
Francisco, whence the journey might be continued by river- 
steamer, railway, and mule-back. The ocean-steamer was a 
side-wheeler of about six hundred tons burden. The officers 
and crew were Brazilians, the engineers English. We car- 
ried a great quantity of miscellaneous freight and a full list 
of passengers. Before leaving I was obliged to have my 
passport viseed, and to pay two hundred reis for a stamp ; at 
Rio there was no charge for the vise. But is it not time to 
do away with the system of passports ? Russia and Brazil 
are the only large and important nations which require them 
at the present day. 

We made our first call at a custom-house on the river 
Piauhy, in the province of Sergipe, anchoring about ten 
miles from the ocean, while the town of Estancia, for which 
we carried freight and passengers, was about twenty miles 
above. Our steamer, however, could go no higher, and 
great sailing-canoes are employed for the remaining distance. 
The mouth of the river is marked by two parallel lines of 



316 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

breakers, and is not more than one thousand feet in width. 
Small villages of mud and straw huts stand in groves of 
palms upon both the shores. At daylight the next morning 
we left for Aracaju, the capital of the province of Sergipe, 
situated on a small river about three miles from the ocean. 
We steam slowly along, in plain sight of the shore, which is 
low and sandy, and reach Aracaju about noon. The entrance 
to the river is narrow and winding, with giant breakers dash- 
ing themselves into white foam upon the sand-banks on each 
hand. It is necessary to keep exactly in the channel, as the 
stranded wreck of a steamer clearly shows. As it was, the 
captain said we had but two feet of water under the steam- 
er's bottom in crossing the bar. It is, besides, so rough on 
all these river-bars, that the port-holes are always carefully 
closed until the passage has been made. The town of Ara- 
caju is of single-story houses, laid out with broad streets and 
sidewalks. The President's Palace, House of Delegates, 
and other public buildings, are all exceedingly plain, and 
rather dilapidated. From the tower of the large cathedral a 
good view can be obtained of the town and surrounding 
country, which is mostly low-lying, and covered with cocoa- 
palms. The next morning we left for Penedo. The coast 
was low and sandy all the way. Nearing the mouth of the 
San Francisco, the ocean was tinged a deep yellow ten miles 
from land. The entrance is like that of most of the rivers 
on the coast of Brazil, narrowed and made dangerous by 
sand-bars. Here the bar forms nearly a complete circle. 
Upon the left is the low, wooded island of Arumbipe, with 
a lofty round lighthouse at its southern extremity. A few 
fishermen's huts stood here and upon the opposite point. 
At the entrance the river flows with a swift current, and 
seems to be about a mile in width. Farther up it is wider, 
though the many islands make it difficult to tell the exact 
width. We pass, upon the right, a small village bearing the 
euphonious name of Piassabossu. It consists mostly of 
sugar-factories, and warehouses filled with cotton — the two 
leading products of the province of Alagoas, which lies to 



ON THE SAN FEANGISOO. 31? 

the north of the river San Francisco, while the province of 
Sergipe faces the southern bank. Alagoas contains twice as 
great a population as Sergipe. As we go on, numerous clus- 
ters of huts are seen upon both banks. The country, how- 
ever, is low, and, where not planted with sugar-cane, is cov- 
ered with dense scrub. Finally, we pass, upon the right 
bank, a small village called Villa Nova, which may be re- 
garded as a suburb of Penedo, situated upon the opposite 
bank and a little above. Penedo shows well from the river 
— here a little less than a mile in width — built as it is upon 
a point of land which rises high, and then slopes gently back- 
ward. At dusk we reach our wharf, and make everything 
snug for the night, intending to sleep on board. 

Early in the morning I landed, passing through a large 
warehouse belonging to the steamer company, and filled with 
ox-hides, bales of cotton, bags of cotton-seed for making oil, 
and sacks of coffee and rice. The principal business of 
Penedo may be said to be the export of cotton, sugar, and 
hides. The hotel was near by, a single-story building kept 
by an Italian woman, as I discovered upon clapping my 
hands londly at the front door. In South America, by-the- 
by, you seldom find door-bells — iron knockers supplying 
their place. In Penedo and many other places, within the 
South American tropics, it is so warm that the doors of the 
houses always stand open, and the method of announcing a 
call is simply to stand in the street and clap the hands, when 
some inmate will probably come from the distant rear of the 
house and invite you to enter the sitting-room, with its 
always geometrically arranged sofa and chairs. I obtained a 
comfortable room, with a cement floor, which is cool and 
healthful, but the walls ran only about two thirds of the way 
to the roof — a plan that makes perfect quiet an impossibility 
either by day or night. The streets of Penedo, saving that 
which runs close along the river, are rather steep ; some of 
them are paved with huge flat blocks, others with small 
stones, but most of them are unpaved. The town is lighted 
by oil-lamps, set in great iron sconces attached to the sides of 



318 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the buildings. It contains seven churches and several schools 
both public and private. The " Jornal do Penedo " is a 
little sheet, about a foot square, which is published semi- 
weekly, at a cost, for a single subscription, of four dollars per 
annum. Advertising in this periodical is probably as cheap 
as in any newspaper in the world, being but forty reis (or 
about two cents) a line. I found the short street adjoining 
the river crowded with market-people, most of whom had 
come from great distances in their canoes to dispose of their 
produce. These canoes thickly lined the bank, and from 
their sails many of their owners had improvised tents. At 
one end of the street were the pack-mules which had brought 
that part of the produce not fetched by the river-boats. The 
market contained the usual profuse tropical variety of food, 
which was offered for sale in any quantity and at extremely 
cheap rates. In fact, the only coins in circulation seemed to 
be of copper. Many people had also little stands of manu- 
factured goods, and a few were selling cooked food of vari- 
ous kinds. The scene was very animated, and the amount of 
chatting and cheapening in progress was remarkable. The 
natives are very fond of the sights and gossip of one of these 
fairs — it was the weekly market — and will often pass half a 
day in purchasing a few cents' worth. During the remainder 
of the day I saw scarcely any one who was not carrying home 
some purchase or other, either a basket of food, or a pair of 
shoes, or a song-bird in a cage, or an earthenware jar, or a 
piece of coarse cotton for a shirt or a dress. A great num- 
ber of beggars were circling around at the fair, some of them 
the victims of loathsome disease, and others dreadful cripples. 
They seem to meet with moderate success from the market- 
people, many of whom give them either particles of produce 
or else infinitesimal copper coins. 

I called upon the vicar, and found him to be a very in- 
telligent and genial old gentleman, who had resided in Pe- 
nedo for fifteen years. He gave me, in lively style, much 
information about this section of Brazil. The population of 
Penedo is about ten thousand. From the tower of the cathe- 



ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. 319 

dral an extended view may be obtained — first, of the town, 
with its houses set thickly next the river, and running back 
in two long streets upon the ridge to the eastward ; second, 
of the comparatively level country, covered with sugar-cane, 
or cotton, or second-growth forest ; and, third, of the great, 
muddy river, full of small islands, and winding and doubling 
away in the distance toward the northwest. Upon its swift 
current glide many large canoes, mostly sailing up-stream, 
with two lateen-sails spread " wing and wing " from a sin- 
gle mast. With a strong, steady wind these canoes will go 
up-stream about as fast as the river-steamers. They are large 
and roomy, and have straw-thatched cabins in their bows 
instead of in their sterns. With their triangular, outstretched 
sails they are a very picturesque addition to the river. 
Many small canoes are used along the shores, and even for 
crossing the river. These are generally propelled with pad- 
dles by men standing. 

One evening, about nine o'clock, a large religious proces- 
sion paraded the principal streets. The houses were all il- 
luminated by lamps and candles, and fire-works were intermit- 
tently discharged. First came a number of men with rattles, 
which they used to announce the approach of the ceremonial 
train. Then follow a sacristan bearing a large cross, boys 
swinging incense -censers, and two long lines of torch-bearers 
clothed in red and black gowns. Children came next, dressed 
in gay-colored gauze, with wings, to counterfeit angels. A 
wooden eflSgy of Christ, borne by four men, was then in 
order, and my friend the vicar, followed by about a thou- 
sand men, walking bareheaded, singing a plaintive hymn. 
At a little distance advanced another procession of similar 
character, except that the image was that of the Virgin, at- 
tended by about a thousand women. Meanwhile the bells 
of the churches were tolled. These people are very relig- 
ious so far as outward observances go, but they have little 
or no comprehension of theology. They worship, but do 
not seem to know exactly what or why. The idea of a 
devotional exercise being in progress was altogether absent 



320 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

from most of the members of the great procession that I 
had witnessed. They seemed quite ignorant of the signifi- 
cance and solemnity of the ceremony in which they were 
participants. All were laughing and talking, many of the 
men were smoking, and some of the women were skylark- 
ing in the most sportive manner. The bearers of the body 
of the suffering Christ were so overwhelmed with the hu- 
mor of some joke which had been passed around, that they 
staggered in a manner that threatened to make the effigy 
topple over upon their heads. The next day flags were at 
half-mast on all the Brazilian vessels in the river, in honor 
of the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ — Good- Friday. 
Elaborate services were held in all the churches, to which 
the people were summoned by means of great wooden rattles, 
shaken by men running through the streets. As it was a 
holiday, troops of hatless women, in gay-colored calico dresses, 
their hair dressed with flowers, were seen going churchward ; 
while the men, rising late, passed the day largely in visiting 
their friends. At sunset there was another procession. Sev- 
eral large figures exhibited the various agonies of Christ 
previous to his death, and on a catafalque his body was rep- 
resented as lying dead under a pall. This was escorted by 
troops, and followed by a brass band playing a dirge. The 
beggars were out in tremendous force, and were generally 
rewarded for their pains by gifts of money or food. The 
celebration of Christ's resurrection began on Sunday noon. 
Work was resumed, bells were rung, fire-works were dis- 
charged, flags were hauled from half to full mast, and effigies 
of Judas Iscariot were publicly burned. The next day the 
final parade came to view, accompanied by the military and a 
brass band playing lively quicksteps. A crown of one of the 
statues of Christ becoming disengaged, the procession halted, 
while some one brought hammer and nails, and secured it in 
its place. In the evening I went to the Teatro de Yarieda- 
des, where a moderately good Portuguese company gave two 
or three amusing comediettas, interspersed with singing and 
dancing. The brass band of the morning's parade furnished 



ON TEE SAN FRANCISCO. 321 

the music, with a superfluity of bass-drums and cymbals. 
The doorway was nearly blockaded by women, who were 
squatting upon the ground and steps, and engaged in selling 
fruit and sherbet. The people in the parquette smoked 
during the performance. 

Once a week a little iron, side-wheel steamer runs from 
Penedo to Piranhas, the head of navigation on the lower San 
Francisco. The distance is about a hundred miles, and as 
the current has a speed of three knots an hour, and frequent 
stops are made, two days are needed to make the voyage. I 
took passage on the first steamer that left after my arrival. 
There were two classes of passengers — cabin and deck. 
Meals were served the former on the after-deck, under an 
awning, though in very bad weather a large saloon below is 
used. There were no state-rooms, and only a few benches in 
the saloon for those who wished to utilize them as beds. In 
the extreme stern was a small cabin for ladies. In front of 
the funnel was a raised deck, where a good view could be 
obtained. Near the wheel-house was the detached state-room 
of the captain, and opposite it was another, used generally by 
the pilot, but kindly put at my service by the agent of the 
line. The river was extremely muddy, of a thick, oily, brown 
color. It ranged from half a mile to a mile in width, with a 
very tortuous channel, which was generally about twenty feet 
deep. During the rainy season the lower river rises some 
twelve feet. The banks were at first low and smooth, and 
covered with second-growth timber, and occasionally planted 
with mandioc, maize, and sugar-cane. There were many small 
villages, and almost continuous stretches of huts. The first 
large town at which we stop is called Propria. It is upon 
the right bank, built upon a gently sloping hill, and contains 
an enormous double-towered church which stands boldly 
forth among predominating one-story mud huts. The river- 
bank has been paved, walled, and buttressed with huge stones 
to prevent the ever-active encroachment of the swiftly flow- 
ing stream. Going on from Propria the appearance of the 
country gradually changes; smooth, low hills and many pro- 
21 



322 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

jecting ridges occur. In the distance, to the northwest, 
range appears behind range— none, however, very high. The 
wind blows strongly from the ocean, and many large boats, 
with outstretched sails, swiftly move up-stream. The two 
sails are so arranged on the mast as to admit of being simul- 
taneously furled. The operation reminds one of a bird fold- 
ing its wings. The wind, however, blows in such sudden 
and violent gusts around some of the sharp bends of the 
river, that unless a canoe is properly loaded, or ballasted, and 
very carefully handled, it is in danger of capsizing. These 
boats naturally hug the shores in ascending, but lower their 
masts and are rowed in the middle of the stream in descend- 
ing the river. After passing many villages, the next town 
above Propria is called Traipu, picturesquely situated on a 
ridge upon the left bank. Its white church makes a very 
prominent mark against the green background of trees. On 
the other side, but a little below, are three noticeable hills, 
which are styled the " Three Brothers." On the same bank, 
a short distance higher up, at a village of a single street facing 
the river, and appropriately called Curral de Pedras (a corral 
of stones), we anchor near the shore for the night. The 
boilers of our steamer are fired with cotton-seed, which makes 
a cheap and very hot tire, though, of course, not so enduring 
a one as wood. 

We started on, up the river, at five in the morning. 
The banks now consisted of rocky hills, from fifty to three 
hundred feet in height, and covered with cacti and low, 
scrubby trees. The villages became less numerous, the line 
of huts less continuous. In one place we passed a pictur- 
esque church, upon the top of a small, dome-shaped hill ; 
in another, a cemetery laid out upon a similar knoll. Fish- 
pounds were niched in the angles of the river and at the 
mouths of little streams that entered it. The width of the 
San Francisco had now diminished to less than half a mile, 
though its tortuonsness remained the same. The next village 
at which we stopped was Pao d'Assucar, or Sugar-Loaf, so 
named from a conical rocky hill standing near the bank. 



ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. 323 

As we advanced the river gradually narrowed, until, in some 
places, it was not more than a thousand feet wide. The 
scenery had been very pretty all the way from Curral de 
Pedras. In the middle of the afternoon we saw, down a long 
reach of the river, Piranhas and the white walls and clock- 
tower of its railway-station. 

The town, as we approached, presented an extraordinary 
appearance, lying in a regular gulch washed out of the steep 
hill-side. The situation seemed as odd and inaccessible as 
that of some of the Swiss villages. ISTot only were there no 
two houses upon the same level, but the paths between them 
ran in tangents, back and forth, up the sides of the valley, 
like goat-tracks, and almost as steep as ordinary staircases. 
The town was very small, and consisted, for the most part, 
of mud huts. The only level ground anywhere in view was 
the inclosure of the railway-station, which had been formed 
artificially, and with great walls of masonry on each side. 
It included a pretty little depot, car-houses, freight-ware- 
rooms, and machine-shops, extending for a long distance upon 
the river-bank. Immediately above Piranhas the San Fran- 
cisco is full of rocks and reefs, and the accompanying rapids 
prevent the further progress not only of steamers, but of 
native boats as well. No good hotel exists in Piranhas, and 
I esteem myself fortunate in getting quarters with an old 
Portuguese resident, a gentleman who owns the best portion 
of the town — that is, the short street which contains the 
stores. From almost any part there are good views down 
the river, whence comes a strong and refreshing breeze every 
afternoon. The mornings are apt to be exceedingly sultry. 
At least a hundred boys came down to the beach to see us 
arrive, while a hundred men stood eagerly looking on from 
the shade of buildings upon the bank ; and above, upon the 
hill-side, hundreds of women peered curiously forth from 
doors and windows. The river is deep, and we are secured 
directly against the sandy beach. The steamer remains but 
twenty-four hours, and then returns to Penedo. Steamers 
have now been running on the lower San Francisco over 



324: AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA^ 

twenty years. The railway from Piranhas to Jatoba, on the 
upper river, passing around the rapids of Paulo Affonso, is 
about eighty miles in length, belongs to the Imperial Govern- 
ment, and has been built about five years. It is a narrow 
gauge, and runs two passenger-trains each way during the 
week. About six hours are required to make the journey. 
Before the completion of this railway, all the trade of the 
great river between Piranhas and Jatoba — all the produce 
which came down, and all the foreign manufactured goods 
which went up — had to be transported by horses and mules, 
the long series of falls and rapids of the river between those 
points preventing navigation. Even now the same primitive 
means are largely employed. It is fortunate for most of the 
inhabitants living along the lower San Francisco, that the 
river supplies many large and excellent fish, and that the 
poor soil at least grows mandioc, maize, and beans. Other- 
wise starvation would seem inevitable. The people of Piran- 
has are exceedingly poor. They appear to have scarcely any 
furniture, and their cooking-utensils are of the simplest and 
rudest construction. Most of the families keep a few goats, 
using the milk fresh, and making cheese from it, and also 
eating the flesh. However, as you go into the interior, on 
either side of the river, the land improves and becomes quite 
fertile. Nothing of very special interest is to be seen in 
Piranhas itself, but about two miles distant, up a winding 
valley to the southeast, is a remarkable natural curiosity, a 
great heap of rocks, some of them wonderfully balanced, and 
one small slab which the natives call Pedro, do Sino (the 
bell-stone). Upon being struck with an iron hammer, it emits 
a ringing sound exactly like that of metal. I obtain a guide 
and visit this rarity. The valley and hills are of loose and 
disintegrated rock and gravel, with a scrub Vegetation. At 
one place was a mineral spring, the strongest flavor of which 
was salt. The pedra lies at the extremity of a rocky ridge, 
in a narrow valley, a short distance back from the river. 
Here is a great heap of rocks, about forty feet long, twenty 
wide, and ten high. These rocks are perhaps a hundred in 



ON TEE SAN FRANCISCO. 325 

number, mostly smooth on their surface, and, though cracked 
and broken and wedged together in many directions, they 
still made an exceedingly firm pile. Upon the summit, at 
one end, is a huge block balanced upon two smaller ones, not 
vertically, but at a considerable angle. Moreover, the thick- 
est part is at the top. None of these rocks give forth any 
peculiar sound when struck, but in front of the pile, and 
nearly at its foot, upon one side, is the famous Pedra do Sino. 
This is simply a block of ordinary stone (granite ?) like all 
the rest, about five feet long, a foot wide, and eight inches 
thick. It is considerably wider at one end than at the other. 
It rests upon the sharp, angular edges of four smaller stones, 
two at each end. When struck with an iron hammer (one 
brought along for the purpose), it sends forth a sharp, ringing 
sound, like that of a large iron or copper basin. I examined 
this block very carefully, but failed to detect anything out of 
the common in its exterior. A deep path has been worn 
leading to this geological curiosity, as its extraordinary char- 
acter appeals very directly to the imagination of the simple- 
minded natives. 



CHAPTER XXXYIL 

THE KING OF RAPIDS. 

I left Piranhas by the seven-o'clock morning train for 
the station of Sinmibu, which is about fifty miles distant. 
The cars and locomotives are of American manufacture. 
There were a good many second-class passengers, but only 
two or three in the first-class compartment. The railway 
leads, at first, by a three-per-cent grade up to the top of the 
hills, or rather table-land, and follows the course of the river 
for a short distance. The construction of this part of the 
road must have been quite expensive. Over the rest of the 
way the expense was limited to laying the sleepers upon the 
level ground, and fastening the rails upon them. The trains 
could then be started at once. Before the railroad was built, 
this section of country was quite uninhabited : first, because 
of the scarcity of water ; and, second, because the soil would 
produce nothing. Even now there are but a few huts at 
each station. In the rainy season some surface-water is 
found, and even brooks become full for a time, but at other 
periods the people have sometimes to transport from a great 
distance all the water which they use. Attached to all the 
locomotives are cars bearing great iron tanks of water for 
the boilers. The country was generally level, or undulating, 
and covered with stunted trees, cacti, and low scrub ; but 
at Sinimbu a short range of smooth hills stretched away to 
the west, and to the south I saw a few tall conical peaks. 
At Sinimbu I obtained horses, and rode across to the great 
rapids of Paulo Aflonso, about ten miles distant. A road 
twenty feet in width had been cut through the scrub, and 



TEE KING OF RAPIDS. 327 

the track in the middle of it served us very well. But such 
a soil ! — all white sand, yellow gravel, and gray and brown 
rocks ! When about half-way, I distinctly heard the dull, 
steady roar of a cataract, and at one point I caught a glimpse 
of two or three Columns of mist gracefully rising in the air. 
Near the river, and just above the first fall, is the only dwell- 
ing in the neighborhood, a mud hut with three rooms, one of 
which I secured for my baggage and provisions ; for, being 
forewarned, I carried my own food-supply. I lived for two 
days at the rapids, and slept in a hammock, slung under 
an arbor adjoining the hut. The latter belonged to a va- 
queiro, or herdsman, an old man who had dwelt there, he 
said, twenty-six years. With him were living his wife and 
his two daughters and their husbands, who were cousins. 
Between them there was a fair assortment of little children, 
who played about in a state of paradisiacal nudity. Their 
mothers almost did the same, wearing only chemise and 
skirt, much abbreviated at top and bottom. The men wore 
only shirts and drawers, of coarse cotton, which might once, 
many years ago, have been white, sandals of two or three 
thicknesses of rawhide, and hats made of leather. They 
carried long, narrow knives in a sheath at their belts, and, 
attached to a string worn over the shoulder, a little bag, 
which contained a pipe, tobacco, flint, steel, and tinder. In 
front of the hut was a large ombu, a tree giving good shade 
for a hammock or dinner-table, and near by were several 
corrals for the cattle. The animals upon which this family 
subsist consist of about two hundred goats and sheep, six 
cows, and some pigs and chickens. They make cheese of 
the goats' milk, but no butter from either that or the milk of 
the cows. They are so poor that they do not possess either 
tea or coffee, or any vegetable save mandioc. All their cook- 
ing is done out of doors upon two or three stones, which 
support the wood and kettles. They have neither candles 
nor matches. 

Directly in front of the hut — that is to say, between it and 
the San Francisco —is a small inlet from the river, of which 



328 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

several are found hereabout, and which the people style a 
vai-vem, literally a "go-and-come," from the fact that the 
water at regular intervals sets up them in a sort of tidal wave. 
These inlets are filled with fine, smooth sand. The vai-vems 
are all wedge-shaped, and a great eddy at their wide mouths 
forces the water up, while gravity takes it back. In sight of 
the hut, a little way down the river, is a pile of rock upon 
which has been erected a large bronze tablet commemorating 
the visit of the Emperor in 1859. Opposite this tablet the 
river is only about ten feet below the level of the plain, but 
during the next quarter of a mile it makes a descent of two 
hundred and sixty feet. A mile above the great rapids it is 
half a mile in width, immediately above them it is but five 
hundred feet wide, while just below them it is only a hun- 
dred feet. Turning from the memorial to Dom Pedro, I 
followed my guide to the edge of the river. The sight that 
here burst upon my eyes was one of tumultuous grandeur, at 
once beautiful and frightful. I beheld the " King of Rapids," 
for there is none greater on earth ! The banks are flanked 
with masses of broken and cracked rock, and large and small 
bowlders of a brown color, smoothly worn. The rapids 
above the cataracts remind me of those below Niagara, only 
here the water is of a brownish-yellow, instead of a whitish- 
green, but there is the same terrific speed — here fully thirty 
miles an hour — the same leaping and eddying, the same foam 
and spray. 

There are, exactly speaking, seven great cataracts of Paulo 
Affonso, three in the middle of the river, separated by small, 
rocky islands, and four toward the right bank. Paulo Af- 
fonso, of course, partakes more of the nature of gigantic 
rapids than of falls. At least, one discovers no vertical 
tumbles over precipices throughout the distance of a quarter 
of a mile and two hundred and sixty feet, in which the river 
changes its level. You might rather say that the cataracts 
dispose themselves in several terraces. Just at the first one 
is a semicircle of black, jagged rocks which, taken with the 
abyss into which the water here falls, make a wild and awful 



TEE KIWG OF RAPIDS. 329 

picture. So dense is the vapor that I doubt if it would be 
possible, from any foothold, to see the bottom of this gigan- 
tic caldron. There is a mighty and constant roar, which 
seems to come from every direction, and the spray dances 
and shoots upward several hundred feet. Across the river, 
and a little below, are three fine cataracts, around and about 
which you see bright-green grass, many of the trees in 
blossom ; beyond, a small purple peak ; and, above all, a crys- 
tal sky of the most delicate blue. You leap at once from a 
Dantean Inferno to a Thomsonian Arcadia ; though I must 
add that these rapids, both above and below the cataracts, 
are awful rather than beautiful, magnificent rather than 
lovely. The rocks, the roar, the several turns, the impossi- 
bility of seeing the bottom where the greatest body of water 
makes its first descent, the perpendicular walls of smooth 
stone — all are terrible and awe-inspiring. Some idea of the 
great force and speed of the water may be gained when I 
say that several of the cataracts are driven between ledges of 
rock not fifty feet apart, and that the stone channel through 
which the water from the four largest rapids united flows is 
about fifty feet wide, and makes two turns almost at right 
angles to the general course of the river. Opposite the last 
sharp turn is a cliff of smooth brown rock, about two hun- 
dred feet in height. A good general view of all the cataracts 
may be obtained from this point, to which you may proceed 
on horseback. It is called the " Emperor's Yiew," having 
been his Majesty's favorite coigne of vantage. But the 
grandest rapid, as it tumbles nearly at right angles to the 
general direction of the river, is not visible. This may be 
best seen from the opposite (or Bahia) shore. To get there, 
however, you must go up the river about five miles, cross in 
a canoe, and walk down, carrying tent and provisions. To 
the right of the " Emperor's Yiew," at the lower corner of 
the bluff, is a large grotto, or cave, entered by scrambling 
down an old dry water-course near its entrance. This cave is 
some five hundred feet long, a hundred high, and fifty wide. 
It is oval in shape, and its roof bears a fine simulation of 



330 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

stars. The sides are composed of a brown soft stone. The 
floor is uneven, and covered with rubbish and dirt. Only 
bats frequent this cavern, and the Brazilians style it the 
Furna dos Morcegos, or Vampire Grotto. Below the " Em- 
peror's Yiew " the river takes another turn, and is here about 
a hundred feet wide, bordered with bluffs three hundred feet 
in height. A short distance down, on the right bank, are 
three large falls adjoining each other — in fact, pouring from 
the same branch of the river. They drop for quite two hun- 
dred feet and are remarkably fine. I do not know that there 
is anywhere in the world any series of rapids to be compared 
with the Paulo Affonso. It is a most marvelous and thrilling 
sight, which well repays the toil and hardships of a visit. The 
time may come, even, when the wretched mud huts, where 
I slung my hammock and ate my jerked beef and cassava- 
bread, will be turned into a magnificent " Cataract House " 
— but things move with inordinate slowness in Brazil. 

I returned to Sinimbu and took the train to Jatoba, the 
western terminus of the railroad. The country remained of 
the same generally sterile character. Jatoba is a village of 
about a thousand inhabitants, lying upon the left bank of the 
river, on a plain containing ample room for a city, the streets 
and squares of which, on an extended scale, have been 
already planned by the Government. But the land here- 
about produces nothing, so it is doubtful if the idea of a 
city will be very soon realized. The station-house is a large 
two- story building, and directly before it, in the river, a 
splendid cut-stone embankment and landing-stairs, with a 
great iron crane for raising freight from the river-boats, have 
been built. Upward from Jatoba the river is smooth and 
quiet, and flows with a gentle current. It is navigable, with 
one exception, right away up to Sahara, on its branch, the 
Rio das Yelhas — upon which I made a little voyage, as 
already described — fifteen hundred miles distant. The single 
break in this long journey is a reef, which the Government 
is now engaged in removing. When this work is completed, 
two little iron steamers will begin to ply up and down the 



THE KING OF RAPIDS. 331 

length of the river. These steamers have been already built 
in England, and have been brought out in sections, which are 
now being put together at a large town, named Joazeiro, 
about three hundred miles from Jatoba. These will bring 
the rich produce of the valley of the San Francisco to Jatoba, 
and then the railway around the rapids of Paulo Alfonso will 
begin to achieve the object for which it was originally pro- 
jected. No hotel exists at Jatoba, but I find most hospitable 
accommodation at the dwelling of an official of the railway. 
The thirteen chairs in this gentleman's little parlor are each 
covered with the skin of an ounce, an animal resembling the 
leopard, and very prevalent hereabout. These skins, which 
have a thick fur, irregular faint spots, and a long tail, 
make very comfortable backs for chairs. I find also the cot- 
ton hammocks, swung in the parlor, very agreeable lounging- 
places. My bed, made of one of the many beautiful, dark, 
hard woods of Brazil, has a huge hide placed upon its mat- 
tress. This I find a little hard, though cool for tropical 
weather. The table is bountifully supplied with meat — sev- 
eral kinds, or perhaps one kind cooked in different ways. It 
is etiquette to eat of all. My host gives me nice bread, but does 
not eat any himself ; he is contented with rice and cassava. 
Other vegetables are not provided ; nor is there fruit. Meals 
are always concluded with some sort of marmalade, with 
cheese and coffee. Good Portuguese wine is drunk. The 
entire meal is placed at once upon the table, and there is no 
division of courses. A condiment of hot peppers, onions, 
lime-juice, and beef- soup is very popular. Limes are used, 
but no salt or black pepper. The butter comes in tins, and 
is of French manufacture. After a meal, toothpicks and 
cigarettes are invariably passed around. The women of the 
family do not usually appear at the general table, at least not 
in towns remote from the capital and large cities. We are 
waited upon by male or female slaves, and a boy is always 
detailed to brush the flies from the table and guests with a 
sort of feather-duster. There are but two meals a day, gen- 
erally at ten and five o'clock. 



332 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Two miles distant from Jatoba, across a level stretch of 
country around which the river makes a circular bend, are 
the cataracts of Itaparica, well worthy of a visit. A part of 
the San Francisco here has cut and worn its way through an 
enormous ledge of a soft kind of rock, which was originally 
of a reddish-brown color, but which the sun has turned black 
where it has been worn by the water. The greater bulk of 
the river makes a splendid cataract, of about sixty feet, at a 
sharp though not vertical angle, and then rushes along at a 
rapid decline in a fine series of rapids, about a hundred feet 
in width. These boil and seethe and fly aloft, and are white 
with foam and spray, recalling once more to me those of Ni- 
agara. At their foot they strike violently against the rock* 
bordered bank, which here trends away" at nearly a right 
angle. These rocks, cut, chiseled, broken, cracked, and pol- 
ished quite smooth, glisten like cannel-coal under a bright 
sun. They rise thirty feet higher than the river, and extend 
a hundred feet back from it. Above the cataract the ledge 
has divided the river into several small streams, which have 
opened the rock in extraordinary fissures of every fanciful 
shape. Some of them are thirty feet deep, and not more 
than four wide. Hollows abound, like the pot-holes of 
Switzerland : some of them wells two feet in diameter and 
twenty feet in depth ; others kettle-shaped, thirty feet in di- 
ameter, and as many deep. All these hollows and holes have, 
of course, been worn by the action of water and pebbles 
moving and churning during many centuries. Apparently, 
also, the water of the river has in some distant age flowed 
entirely over this great ledge of rock, but now small streams 
alone are found at the bottoms of the fissures, while most of 
the excavations are filled only with rain-water. The view of 
all these rocks and chasms and rapids from the river below is 
very grand. The roar of the cataract is so great that it may 
be distinctly heard at a distance of three miles. Near the 
right bank, adjacent to the rapids, is a scrub-covered mount- 
ain, with many jagged rock exposures. This, and the green 
fringe of shrubs above the crags, make a very pleasing 



THE KING OF RAPIDS. 333 

back ground to the ebony ledge and the brown and white 
torrent. 

Jatoba and Piranhas are turbulent, lawless places, and the 
natives thereabout are little more than half-civilized. Ques- 
tions of a political nature seem especially to infuriate them. 
Just before my arrival at Jatoba, the leaders of two rival fac- 
tions had a street encounter, in which one of them was killed ; 
whereupon his adherents from the surrounding country, to 
the number of about one hundred, marched into Jatoba and 
for several days maintained a terrible scene of riot and blood- 
shed. In Piranhas, one morning, at five o'clock, as I was 
about to rise, I heard the sharp report of a musket. My host 
afterward informed me that a fellow-townsman had been as- 
sassinated by a man, of an opposing cabal, who came from 
Jatoba for the express purpose. The murderer escaped. 
When I inquired concerning his punishment if captured, I 
was told it would be imprisonment for life. Practically 
there is no such thing in Brazil as capital punishment, though 
it is legal, and a life-sentence means simply — as too often 
with us — an early pardon upon good behavior, conjoined 
with high influence. 

I returned by rail to Piranhas. A queer sight here is the 
great, white, four-faced clock in the water-tower, opposite the 
railway-station. It strikes the hours and halves for a people 
who are utterly without comprehension of time and its value. 
In a double sense might it be called a striking feature of 
the town. It bears upon its front the name of the maker, 
and the place of manufacture — Paris. Piranhas and Paris, 
alas ! have nothing in common save their alliteration. For 
several hours in the morning and evening the women of 
Piranhas may be seen toiling up and down the almost verti- 
cal sides of the valley, carrying great jars of river-water upon 
their heads. Singly, or often in troops of half a dozen, they 
are picturesque figures, with easy, graceful carriage, swarthy 
skin, and light-colored garments. The evenings, and half 
the nights, are generally noisy with the twanging of guitars 
and the warbling of love-ditties. Did one not hear so much 



334 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

of it, this music would be very pleasant. The voices are 
frequently good, and the songs quaint and plaintive, or sweet 
and gay. The guitar accompaniment, too, adds a coloring, 
which is odd and primitive to a foreign ear. Brazilians are 
exceedingly fond of such harmony, and you will rarely see a 
dozen of them traveling together without at least one guitar. 
The steamer came in from Penedo a day late, having de- 
layed for a passenger who arrived by the Pernambuco line. 
It is a common practice, in the smaller ports and rivers of 
Brazil, to postpone the sailing of a vessel several hours, 
and sometimes, as in this instance, a whole day, for a single 
passenger. I left Piranhas the following morning, at six 
o'clock, and reached Penedo, once more, at seven in the even- 
ing. I had to wait several days in Penedo for the steamer 
bound for Pernambuco, and when I departed it was to go 
by the way of Maceio, the capital of the province of Alagoas. 
"We had to spend a night at anchor just within the mouth of 
the river, to wait for high tide, in order to cross the bar. The 
coast was low, level, and sandy all the way to Maceio, which 
place we reached about sundown. The town is built directly 
upon the ocean-shore, which is here a semicircle, and lined 
with great groves of cocoa-palms and bananas. 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

THE "CITY OF THE KEEF." 

Two days from the time of leaving Penedo we reached 
Pernambuco. The city, lying flat, has from the distant 
ocean something of the appearance of Buenos Ayres, but 
upon a nearer approach the streets and buildings bear a 
greater resemblance to Bahia than to the Argentine capital. 
It is, however, very different from either, in respect to a 
long, narrow reef of rock which, at about five hundred feet 
from the shore, stretches along the whole front of the city 
and for several miles beyond, thus making within it a com- 
modious harbor and safe anchorage for all ships and steamers, 
save those of the very deepest draught. Yessels of twenty-five 
hundred tons may readily enter ; larger ones, of which I saw 
a few, lie in the offing, about two miles from land. Pernam- 
buco itself stands upon comparatively level ground, but its 
suburb to the north, Olinda, covers several prettily sloping 
and extremely verdant hills. All along the shore are great 
groves of cocoa-palms, and where the vessels enter the reef- 
protected harbor, at the northern end, are two large forts, 
not more than half a mile apart, the tops of their brick walls 
showing many though small cannon. At the extremity of 
the reef is a low lighthouse, and just beyond it are a round 
tower, and a small building connected with the revenue de- 
partment. From here the reef proper, which at high tide is 
barely above water-level, has been topped with a brick wall 
about five feet in height and ten in width. The great ocean- 
swells, as they roll majestically in, break against this barrier, 
and dash aloft in vast clouds of fleecy foam. The reef near 
the surface of the water is about fifty feet in width. At 



336 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

regular intervals in it have been sunk large cannon to which 
ships may moor. The sea-front of the city is a cemented, 
cut-stone wall. Vessels lie three and four abreast, just 
within the reef, and also next the jetty, leaving the central 
space between them clear for traffic. I noticed two or three 
men-of-war, three or four steamers, and about fifty sailing- 
vessels, mostly barks of light tonnage. Pernambuco is a very 
bustling place, and steamers are coming or going almost every 
day. As at Bahia, there is a street with " Belgian " pave- 
ment adjoining the harbor; and here also at one point is a very 
small sort of plaza, in which are a dozen great trees, around 
whose bases circle iron settees, filled all day and evening by 
loiterers and curiosity-mongers. The houses are narrow, but 
deep, and four or five stories in height. Here, also, you find 
the leading banks, sugar and cotton firms, the hotels, and the 
fine building of the Commercial Association. From my room 
in the hotel I look into the reef -inclosed harbor, with its always 
interesting stir of ships and sailors, of steamers and passen- 
gers, of stevedores and longshoremen, and away beyond, the 
view is closed by the remote commingling of sky and water. 
It is not often that one can obtain such an interesting survey 
while sitting in a comfortable hotel, not thirty feet from the 
ocean's edge. At night I am lulled to sleep by the dull even 
roar of the surf, beating upon the neighboring rocky reef. 

Upon a closer inspection I find that Pernambuco lies upon 
two long, narrow peninsulas and the mainland, the peninsulas 
being formed by two small rivers and the ocean. The sev- 
eral parts are connected by handsome iron and stone bridges. 
The country beyond is mostly low, filled with little streams 
and lakes, and sparsely settled. Everywhere you see palms, 
bananas, and bamboos. The rich merchants possess country- 
houses west of the city, at distances varying from one to 
eight miles, and reached by two or three lines of railroad. 
The oldest part of the town is called Recife, the Reef, either 
from the fact of its lying next the reef, or because it is itself 
upon a sort of reef. Here the streets are very narrow and 
crooked ; but, upon crossing the first bridge to the other 



THE " CITY OF THE REEF." 337 

and larger peninsula, yon notice a great improvement ; the 
blocks of houses become much larger, the streets wider, tram- 
cars are running in every direction, and the best retail stores 
display their wares. In the river Beberibe, which divides 
the district of Recife from that called San xlntonio, are sev- 
eral lines of small ships, mostly engaged in bringing dried 
beef from the Argentine Republic, and dried fish from New- 
foundland. Upon the Recife side is the custom-house, a 
great, square, yellow building, with high and broad towers at 
the corners. On the opposite side is the Arsenal of War. 
The extreme point of the peninsula of San Antonio is re- 
served for the President's house and gardens. This house, 
or palace, as it is flatteringly called, is a square, two-storied 
structure, sadly in want of repairs. It is very plainly fitted 
up, excepting some handsome carved furniture of rose-wood, 
and other beautiful timbers, for which Brazil is famous. The 
old major-domo, who showed me over the alleged palace, was 
unable to tell me the names or relationship of several mem- 
bers of the small imperial family, whose portraits graced the 
walls of one of the large saloons. The gardens contain some 
fine plants and beautiful flowers, but are not kept in good 
order. The President's house faces a small but very pretty 
park, with a music pavilion, where a military band occasion- 
ally performs. On another side is the theatre, not an impos- 
ing building outwardly, but inside one of the prettiest, 
brightest, and cleanest in South America. It has four tiers, 
and large proscenium-boxes, one of which is reserved for the 
President's use. A large foyer has doors opening upon a 
belvedere — the top of the vestibule — where a promenade, with 
fresh air, may be enjoyed between the acts. There is no 
local dramatic company, but sometimes one from Rio or Lis- 
bon. Near the theatre is the School of Fine Arts, and a lit- 
tle way along the same water-front is the house of detention. 
Across the river, upon the mainland, some distance to the 
left, rises the large, three-storied Hospital of Dom Pedro II. 
Almost directly opposite the President's house, also upon the 
mainland, stands the House of Deputies, a square red build- 
22 



338 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ing with great windows full of small panes of glass, crowned 
by an enormously high dome. The furniture and decora- 
tions are very simple. In this part of the city, a short dis- 
tance from the river, is the public cemetery, the only one I 
have seen which at all resembles those in Europe and the 
United States. The usual South American fashion is, as I 
have already said, to huddle the monuments all together, 
with no intervening trees, flowers, lawns, or paths, so that 
they have the general appearance of samples in a "stone-cut- 
ter's yard. But the Pernambuco cemetery is laid out in a 
great square, crossed in all directions by broad avenues, and 
filled with plants of interest and beauty. The central avenue 
is lined by royal palms, which are very much smaller, how- 
ever, than those in the botanical gardens at Rio. The ave- 
nues converge at a chapel in the center. All around the 
sides is a double row of mural niches, or catacombs, as they 
are appropriately styled here. But even in this improved 
cemetery the people do not adopt our plan of family lots, with 
private fences and gates. They run their rows of vaults along 
and near the main avenues, not more than three or four feet 
apart, and with no dividing marks. Several of the monuments, 
which are all of the pyramidal type, were artistic and costly. 
The public market of Pernambuco would do credit to 
any European city. It occupies a large square, is built of 
iron and stone, paved with stone, and w^ell supplied w r ith 
water. The tables are great slabs of stone, and each of the 
stalls is surrounded by a neat iron railing. The profusion of 
fruit and fish and vegetables may be inferred from the trop- 
ical situation of Pernambuco. The building of the Commer- 
cial Association which, with its two-storied white walls, and 
pretty little flower-beds, and its foreign-looking iron fence, 
first attracts the attention of the stranger upon landing from 
the steamer, deserves similar praise to that given to the mar- 
ket. It is, in reality, a sugar and cotton exchange. Two 
great rooms are upon the ground-floor and two above. The 
latter are carpeted and furnished, and their walls are adorned 
with portraits of the Emperor and less distinguished Brazil- 



THE " CITY OF TEE BEEF." 339 

ians. These rooms are used for receptions and balls, and to 
entertain celebrities who may visit the city. Down-stairs 
one room is set apart for brokers' desks, the office of the 
president of the association, etc. Its sides are covered with 
blackboards, for registering commercial quotations, and daily 
business and shipping news of all kinds. The other room is 
furnished with a long table running its entire length, and 
covered with files of newspapers in every language and from 
every country. One wall is faced with book-cases containing 
commercial statistics, law reports, and bound volumes of 
periodicals; another is covered with framed diplomas and 
awards. The room is bright and attractive, and cooled by 
fresh breezes direct from the ocean. The little plaza in front 
of the building is filled, during the middle of the day, with 
knots of merchants eagerly discussing the two great items of 
Pernambuco commerce — sugar and cotton. In the produc- 
tion of sugar, Brazil is second only to Cuba. In the streets 
you see many long, low drays, drawn by a single huge ox in 
shafts, and loaded with these useful products. 

The best of the private residences of the rich merchants 
of Pernambuco stand upon either side of a little railway, 
which is extended about eight miles into the country in a 
northwesterly direction, toward a village called Caxanga. 
The dwellings are generally large, square, and of two stories, 
covered with vari-colored tiles, but with no pretense to any 
architectural beauty. They are surrounded by very beauti- 
ful flower-gardens, and many of them have large aviaries, 
the Brazilians being very fond of pet song-birds. Besides 
the usual varieties of palm, the banana and the bamboo, I 
noticed tamarind, bread-fruit, mandioc, mimosa, jack-fruit, 
aloe, wild-fig, Brazil-nut, acacia, mango, pomegranate, guava, 
yam, sweet-potato, cotton, and sugar-cane. Near Caxanga 
are the new reservoir and water- works for the city, situated 
amid some very pretty scenery. The water is to be derived 
from a lake, snugly ensconced at the extremity of a little 
valley, whence it flows about half a mile to the pumping- 
works. At this point, in order to get a suitable pressure 



340 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

for the houses of Pernambuco, it is to be pumped up into a 
great reservoir, now building upon the top of a neighbor- 
ing hill. This reservoir is of massive brick masonry. A 
pipe eighteen inches in diameter will convey the water to 
the city. From the top of the reservoir a remarkably good 
view of the surrounding country and the distant city and 
ocean may be had. Away to the west are billowy, green 
hillocks ; nearer are great plains of rich pasture. These new 
water-works are being built by an English company. I have 
already referred to that suburb, styled Olinda, which was the 
old Pernambuco. This is reached by a narrow-gauge rail- 
way, with miniature locomotive and carriages of English 
construction. The road passes through low, swampy land 
filled with palms, bananas, bamboos, and dense groves of 
mangoes. No fine residences of merchants have been built 
in this direction ; only the dilapidated mud huts of very poor 
people, mostly negroes. At Olinda are a number of pict- 
uresque little hills, each topped with a church or convent. 
Four or five of these convents vie with a dozen churches. 
Upon the highest ground is a theological seminar} 7 , where 
about a hundred boys are at present studying. From the 
windows of this college splendid views may be had of the 
coast far north, of the great ocean to the east, and of the 
city of Pernambuco at the south. The country inland is 
also very beautiful, with gently undulating, thickly verdured 
surface. Olinda is a very dead-and-alive place, but its quaint 
old churches and convents are romantically if not practically 
interesting. 

One day I took a trip by rail into the interior in a south- 
west direction, through the rich sugar regions — the cotton- 
growing country is in a different direction, more to the west- 
ward, upon higher and drier ground — to the town of 
Palmares, about ninety miles distant. The line belongs to 
an English company, has been long established, and is in a 
prosperous condition. It is a very broad gauge, and has 
carriages of three classes. For the first part of the journey 
the country was low, level, and swampy. To this succeeded 



THE " CITY OF THE REEF:' 341 

an undulating region and the cane-fields. I passed three or 
four towns, though most of the stations were little more than 
groups of a dozen mud huts. Mandioc and beans appeared to 
he much cultivated, and some splendid pasture-land of great, 
smooth hills was covered with a velvety turf of the brightest 
and freshest green. I did not observe many cattle, however, 
nor did those I saw seem very well favored. As we went 
on, the scenery increased in picturesqueness, being more 
broken and diversified. Most of the land had been burned 
over at least once, so that little remained of the primitive 
forest. We crossed two or three small rivers upon stout, 
iron-girder bridges. The engenhos, as the sugar-mills are 
called, were very far apart. They were generally huge 
buildings of brick or mud, and the grinding was accom- 
plished with either water or mule power. The family dwell- 
ing was near at hand, probably a large two-story edifice, of 
very glaring white color. On some neighboring knoll would 
always be a small chapel, for every large sugar-mill supports 
one. Scattered round about would be the squalid slave 
quarters. A rich sugar-planter sometimes owned a couple of 
hundred of these human chattels. An English company has 
built five large steam cane-grinding mills along the railway, 
and to these very many of the planters sell their cane out- 
right. The company then grind it, and send the sugar to 
Pernambuco, and so abroad. These factories are fitted with 
every necessary machine, of the best device and construction, 
and they have English superintendents and engineers. A 
narrow-gauge road runs nearly due west from Palmares about 
fifty miles. It is intended in the future — very distant? — 
to extend this little line as far as the great San Francisco 
River. There being nothing of special interest to be seen 
in the neighborhood of Palmares, I returned by the same 
route to the " City of the Reef." 

A few days afterward I left Pernambuco for Para, on 
one of the mouths of the mighty Amazon, intending to call 
at San Luiz, the capital of the province of Maranham. I 
took passage in the commodious and comfortable steamer 



342 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Advance, of the United States and Brazil Steamship Com- 
pany, one of the few lines still flying the star-spangled ban- 
ner. The cargo was mostly coffee and sugar, and the passen- 
gers were nearly all Americans, bound for New York. After 
so many strange sights and scenes, and such a confusion of 
tongues as I had experienced during the past thirteen months, 
the sound of my vernacular and the society of my country- 
men were delightful, and only too soon cut short by the 
voyage of five days. "We had started at daylight, and late in 
the afternoon we rounded Cape Saint Koque, which is not 
the most easterly point of South America, as used to be 
taught in our school geographies — that distinction being re- 
served for Cape Saint Augustine, which is three degrees 
south, and about half a degree east, of the other promontory, 
and which, by-the-by, was the first land discovered in South 
America — by Pincon, in a. d. 1500. Away to the right, but 
over a hundred miles from the mainland, is the small island 
of Fernando de Noronha, used as a penal colony by Brazil. 
On the afternoon of the third day out from Pernambuco, we 
sighted and passed a tall white lighthouse situated on an isl- 
and off the coast of Maranham ; and at dusk we were enter- 
ing a great bay with low land on every side, and just in front 
of us the capital city of the province, San Luiz. It was a 
very ordinary-looking town, though well lighted with gas. 
Approaching a few small steamers, we anchored for the 
night. In the morning we went on shore, and took a walk 
and a long ride in the tram-cars. Grass was growing in the 
paved streets, and there was a general air of desolation and 
decay about everything. The exports are sugar and cot- 
ton, and near the close of the American civil war the place 
was very active and hopeful, but now it is dying, slowly but 
surely. We remained nearly all one day, taking freight and 
waiting for the flood-tide, before threading the shallow and 
tortuous channel. At low tide the harbor is more than half 
dry, so that a steamer visitor, who went below at high water 
and did not come on deck till low, seeing the great, bare sand- 
banks, would not recognize the situation. We took a pilot 



THE " CITY OF TEE REEF" 343 

from a boat a long distance from the mouth of the Para 
River. This pilot was put aboard our steamer from one of 
the most primitive dug-out canoes I have ever seen in the 
wide ocean. The meu propelled their crazy craft with very 
broad-bladed, short-handled paddles, and, upon grasping a 
rope thrown to them, steered in such bad form that they 
were nearly swamped. But, grinning and chattering, they 
soon bailed the canoe, and finally succeeded in getting the 
pilot and his little tin trunk and silver-headed cane on board. 
Para is seventy-five miles up the river, and we reached it 
early the next morning. Its situation is similar to that of 
San Luiz, save that it is more compactly built, and lies upon 
lower ground. Several smaller rivers enter the Para, just 
here, and the city is built on a point of land thus formed by 
the Guama. The anchorage is extensive, and almost land- 
locked by densely wooded islands. The color of the water is 
a chocolate-brown, and the current runs very swiftly. Scat- 
tered around the harbor were a dozen small ships and a score 
of steamers of all styles and sizes. Two large English steam- 
ers were anchored near us. The other steamers are mostly 
employed in the Amazonian trade, a few only being coasters. 
All along the river- front were great iron warehouses, built 
upon wharves. Most of the freight is moved by lighters, 
the water is deep enough to allow some of the smaller ves- 
sels to lie at the wharves, while others may be seen with only 
their thin bows placed against the river wall. The houses 
of the city appear to be two or three stories in height, and 
some of them are of great size. The woody jungle comes 
directly up to the edge of the city, with no straggling sub- 
urbs. The customary number of moldy, weather-beaten old 
churches is not sufficient to give a picturesque appearance to 
what is only a plain-looking commercial emporium, wholly 
devoted to the trade of the Amazon River — the export of 
rubber, cacao or chocolate, pirarucu, a fish often eight feet in 
length, and castanhas or Brazil-nuts, the chestnuts of a forest 
palm. The steamer Advance, after loading one hundred tons 
of rubber, sailed for Barbados, Saint Thomas, and New York. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 

Para, like several other Brazilian cities, has another and 
an official name — to wit, Belem — which appears upon Bra- 
zilian maps and charts. In like manner Bahia is called San 
Salvador, and Pernambuco Recife. Para stands upon nearly 
level ground, and is laid out regularly, with narrow streets, 
generally paved with square stone blocks. Tram-cars, both 
of broad and narrow gauge, run in all desirable directions, 
and even to suburbs three miles distant. The city is well 
lighted by gas. The telephone is in general use. Good 
hackney-coaches abound, though, being very expensive, they 
are not much patronized. But little is to be said in praise of 
the public buildings. An old church and convent, near the 
river-bank, are utilized as a custom-house. The most im- 
posing and probably the finest building, architecturally speak- 
ing, is the opera-house, or theatre. Next in point of merit 
might be named, I should suppose, the government and presi- 
dent's houses, great two-storied buildings, very plain, both 
inside and out, facing an enormous plaza covered with rank 
grass and unprovided with paths. In the center of this 
plaza, which is surrounded by one-story houses and a row of 
mango-trees, a lofty white-marble monument has been erected 
to some Brazilian general, a native of Para. The pedestal 
possesses no other merit than that it is cut from marble, but 
the bronze figure of the commander on top is worthy of 
attention and praise. Near by is a small fort, mounting a 
few guns of light caliber. The public market is in the 
neighborhood. It is very creditable as regards its construe- 



AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 345 

tion and utility, and, of course, from its location in a city so 
near the equator, contains an endless profusion of fish, fruit, 
and vegetables. A street running past the government- 
house is bordered by rows of the royal palm for a distance of 
half a mile. For one who had never seen the splendid 
avenue in the Botanical Gardens of Rio, or in the park of 
Palermo, near Buenos Ayres, the vista of this street would 
be very interesting ; but here the trees are of a lesser height, 
are broken and irregular, and their trunks have a disagree- 
able, unhealthy look. What is by courtesy styled the Bo- 
tanical Gardens adjoins this avenue of palms. Whatever it 
may once have been, it is now only a thicket, into which it 
would be almost impossible to penetrate. The cathedral of 
Para is a very large, long edifice, now undergoing much- 
needed repairs. A handsome high altar, in which I counted 
ten different sorts of marble, has just been erected. From 
the towers of this church a good view may be obtained of the 
city, the surrounding rivers and islands, and the vast forests 
of the interior. These forests may be easily visited by riding 
out in the tram-car in a northerly direction to the edge of 
the city, and then walking about a mile along a path cut 
through the dense woods, to a little stream called the Una 
Piver. Besides the naturally great variety of plant and 
animal life to be seen, you find the assai-jyahn, the most airy 
and graceful of all the palms. The beautiful orchids are 
also sure to claim the stranger's attention. It is curious, 
moreover, to see a street lined with houses end abruptly 
against a vast perpendicular wall of verdure, into which you 
can not see ten feet. Many of the dwellings of Para are 
very pretty, surrounded, as they are sure to be, by odd trees 
and shrubs and gay flowers. The better class of houses are 
two stories in height, and covered with blue and white tiles ; 
cheaper houses have their mud walls fancifully painted. 
The first and second streets running parallel to the harbor, or 
anchorage-ground, are devoted to the wholesale stores, the 
banks, consulates, and ship-chandlers. The third street con- 
tains the retail stores, with a great variety of goods imported 



346 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

from the United States, England, France, and Germany. 
Para Las to supply all the river towns of the interior with 
food and household utensils. A great bustle reigns along the 
wharves of Para ; steamers come and go almost every day, 
either to or from the Amazon, the coast, or the ocean. Many 
foreign ships and native boats and canoes throng there. 
Half a dozen lines of steamers ply on the mighty Amazon. 
The climate of Para is not unhealthy, though variable. The 
mornings are very sultry, but with the afternoon generally 
come refreshing sea-breezes, and throughout a greater part 
of the year heavy showers, accompanied with thunder and 
lightning, which usually make the nights cool and pleasant. 
Little or no yellow fever visits Para, though intermittent 
fever is not unknown. During the rainy season, which ex- 
tends over about two thirds of the year, all those streets 
which are not paved become terrible sloughs of mud and 
water. 

During my stay I paid several visits to the great opera- 
house, one of the largest in South America, which, as I have 
said, is situated at one end of the plaza. It is built of brick 
and stucco, though in front and on each side are rows of lofty 
marble columns, nuted shafts, with the delicate foliated capi- 
tals of the Corinthian order of architecture. In marble-paved 
porticoes one may promenade between the acts. He may 
also visit the large foyer. In front of the entrances were a 
dozen negresses, vending sweetmeats and candies. Near the 
doors, inside, was a large bar-room, which the audience fre- 
quently visited during the evening, for supplies of beer or 
sweet drinks. The theatre has four narrow galleries, which 
are rather remarkable, in that none of them are supported by 
pillars, but by iron brackets. The president's box is in the 
center of the middle tier, but there are no proscenium-boxes. 
The interior is decorated in white, red, and gold. As in the 
European opera-houses, one half of the parquette has seats at 
one price, the other at a larger. The company was an Ital- 
ian one, and gave Donizetti's " Favorita " in very good style, 
especially when the facts are recalled that we are located at 



AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 347 

a mouth of the great Amazon, hardly a mile from the prime- 
val forest. The orchestra numbered some twenty-five per- 
formers, and the most prominent instrument was a piano. 
The band was leaderless — a very palpable defect. The voice 
most frequently and loudly heard was that of the annoying 
prompter. But, either because it was not a very popular 
opera that was presented, or because the best members of the 
troupe did not participate, or because it was not Sunday, the 
popular holiday, only three hundred people were present. 
The ladies wore light-colored dresses, without hats ; no gen- 
tlemen were in evening dress. If an additional illustration 
of the dilatoriness of the South American people were 
needed, I might mention that, though the hour for beginning 
the opera was advertised as 8.30 p. m., at that time not a 
member of the orchestra was in his seat, and by actual count 
only four people were in the auditorium. At nine the per- 
formance began, and just at that time the people came in 
hurriedly and took their seats. The intermissions were very 
long, and the entire audience appeared to leave their places 
and promenade in various parts of the building, while many 
of the gentlemen adjourned to neighboring cafes. A few 
nights afterward I attended a benefit at which the tenor was 
complimented in most extraordinary fashion. Speeches were 
made from the boxes, poetry was recited, jewelry was pre- 
sented, and between the acts, Manrico, in costume (the opera 
was " 11 Trovatore "), went around to the boxes to collect his 
subscriptions. These being paid, were at once checked off 
by a clerk who attended him. It was a most diverting 
evening. 

One day I made an excursion to the end of a railway 
which is intended eventually to extend to the large town of 
Braganca, about eighty miles from Para to the northeastward. 
At present, however, the road is only completed about half 
this distance. It is a narrow gauge, with rolling-stock of 
English make, and one train a day is run each way. Only a 
single town of any importance graces the road, and the dis- 
trict generally is very thinly peopled. But the opportunity 



348 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

presented of seeing the forest is unrivaled, for the country 
is quite level and covered with almost impenetrable jungle 
throughout the entire distance. A space for about fifty feet 
has been cleared, on both sides of the track, and the little 
villages generally face the road in long, straggling rows. The 
train was full of natives. The women were neatly dressed 
in light calicoes, and their luxuriant black hair was orna- 
mented with flowers, but they neither wore hats nor carried 
parasols. The men were dressed in thin black cloth, and 
smoked and chatted constantly. But what shall I say of 
the forest ? One never tires gazing at it. Its novelty is per- 
petual. The largest trees would average one hundred feet 
in height, with trunks three or four feet in diameter, and 
generally very straight, with but few branches, and these 
near the top. The first thing that strikes the beholder of a 
tropical forest is the almost solid mass of verdure, the vast 
quantity and variety of plant-life ; the second is the gener- 
ally tall and slender character of the trees, and the fact that 
each has leaves, for the most part, only on top. Here one 
readily comprehends the doctrine of the " survival of the 
fittest," for all are struggling in a dense mass upward for 
light, sun, and air. Hence you observe the very summits of 
the loftiest covered with orchids, lichens, and vines, many of 
which send their roots down a hundred feet to the ground, 
at the bases of the trees upon which they thrive. Frequent- 
ly you notice a parasitic plant whose foliage towers above, 
and is greater than that of the tree which it has scaled. And 
then, from tree to tree, and limb to limb, is an intricate net- 
work of luxuriant lianas, the appearance of which continually 
reminded me of the rigging of a great ship. The lower half 
of the forest was composed of so many smaller trees that 
their thin straight stems alone almost shut out the light. 
The surface of the ground was covered with a tangle of 
creepers and trunks, and decaying vegetation of all kinds. 
In temperate regions, you find, in a day's ramble, a single 
representative of a genus ; but here, under the equator, you 
discover a dozen. During my short ride I casually counted 



AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 3 £9 

fourteen species of the pa] in. Upon arriving at the terminus 
of the railroad, I took a walk of a couple of miles along a 
path entering directly into the forest. The stillness was 
mournful and oppressive. The only sign of animal life was 
comprised in a few birds, butterflies, and lizards. The birds 
gave forth no song, only occasionally a frightened screech. 
The butterflies were large and very pretty ; and a toucan, that 
sailed quietly by, looked like a fragment of a rainbow. 
Though I heard no animals, and could of course see none in 
so dense a growth, I made no doubt the forest was as prolific 
in them as in vegetable life— not perhaps in quadrumana, 
but certainly in reptiles and insects. In the heart of the 
great woods one does not see many flowers other than orchids, 
but some of these were most interesting, from their singular 
form and the peculiar arrangement of their blossoms and 
fleshy tubers. Some of the tree-trunks are fluted, others 
honey-combed, others larger above than below. Some are 
reared upon stilts of roots, some are buttressed by narrow 
slabs of living wood which frequently, to insure the better 
brace, project twenty feet from the giant pillar they are 
steadying and supporting. Then, again, the enormous va- 
riety of leaves, both in shape and size, all massed together, 
and all new and strange to eyes accustomed to a more mea- 
ger flora, prove of unflagging interest. As I walk slowly 
along, I feel as if in a fog, or Eussian bath, it is so damp 
and steamy. Below is the moisture, and above are the light 
and sun, which together produce such a lavish display of 
plant-life. The tropical forest is not only grand and solemn, 
it is also graceful and beautiful. The delicacy and elegance 
of some of the palms are very wonderful. The vast beds of 
trailing creepers are so soft and rich as to resemble the 
choicest velvet. And notice especially the shades of green 
in the foliage, which vary from the faintest, most illusive 
tints, to the heaviest and darkest green-black. It is always 
twilight in the primeval forests of the torrid zone. It did 
not, therefore, require a very vivid imagination to fancy that 
the body and limbs of some old sylvan monarchs, wound 



350 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

about by Luge parasitic climbers, were thus pinioned by 
massy cordage. To return to the city : no visitor to Par& 
should omit an examination of the splendid gardens of the 
well-known American botanist and author, Edward S. Rand, 
who has some thirty thousand plants in seven hundred and 
fifty-six species, and endless varieties. Especially interest- 
ing is his collection of orchids. These gardens are private 
property, but Mr. Rand is very amiable, and likes nothing 
better than to show his treasures to an appreciative stranger. 
Having seen everything of importance in and about Para, 
I decided to make a voyage of about a thousand miles up the 
Amazon to Manaos, the capital of Amazonas, the largest 
province of Brazil. Several lines of Brazilian steamers run 
to Manaos ; and two English steamers, each of a thousand tons 
burden, go from Liverpool direct and return by way of New 
York. But the best passenger line, for a traveler who finds 
himself in Para, is that called the Amazonian, which is an 
English company, though the officers and engineers are Bra- 
zilians. This company dispatches three steamers a month. 
These are iron side-wheel vessels, of five hundred or six hun- 
dred tons burden, built in England. They are specially well 
arranged for long voyages under the equator. They have, 
for instance, two decks, the upper being covered by a wooden 
roof. The cabins are forward, and contain four berths each. 
The whole after part, behind the wheel-houses, is open, and 
a long table down its center is used for meals. On each side 
of this the passengers stretch their hammocks transversely 
between the iron posts which support the roof. Should the 
breeze blow too strongly, or a rain-shower come on, canvas 
curtains are dropped on all sides, making a dry and comfort- 
able room. In these hammocks you find the passengers loll- 
ing, swinging, gossiping all day long, but never by any 
chance reading, or, if women, doing any embroidery or fancy- 
work. The hammocks are generally used at night also in 
preference to the warm and close cabins. On the lower deck 
a number of second-class passengers are carried. The crew 
all sleep in hammocks in the forward part of the steamer, 



AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 351 

and so thickly are these hung together that it is impossible 
to pass between them, though, if necessary, you might cross 
under them. When I went on board the steamer at mid- 
night — it was to leave at daylight — everything was silent, 
though I knew there must be many passengers ; so, strolling 
around, I found the whole deck covered with hammocks, each 
of which contained a sleeping man, woman, or child. The 
next day I discovered, posted in a conspicuous place, a list of 
the names of forty passengers, with their several destinations. 
The table was not very good, nor was the cleanliness as per- 
fect as would have been agreeable. Coffee was served at 
6.30 a. m., breakfast at 11.30, dinner at 4.30 p. m., and tea at 
8. My fellow-passengers were affable and sociable, though 
of course their ideas of refinement were not the same as 
those generally prevailing in the northern half of the conti- 
nent. They stuck to their hammocks, day and night. The 
Amazon Yalley is par excellence the " country of hammocks." 
Thereabout a man never travels without one, and in all the 
hotels and private houses you find stout ring-bolts fastened 
in the walls ready for use in suspending them. As you steam 
along the great river, you always see many hammocks swing- 
ing in the huts along the bank. The word is of Indian ori- 
gin. Columbus, in the narrative of his first voyage, speaks 
of the hamacas, or nets, in which the Indians slept. On the 
Amazon they are made of netting or cloth, generally the 
latter, and of hemp or cotton, variously ornamented and em- 
broidered. They often have deep fringes hanging down from 
the sides, which give them a very pretty appearance. They 
cost all the way from five dollars to fifty dollars, according 
to the amount of ornamentation. Some, made on the Rio 
Negro, of the feathers of rare and beautiful birds, are, of 
course, still more expensive. As soon as the ordinary ham- 
mocks become soiled, they are washed, and hence the white 
ones — the best of them generally seem to be of this color — 
present a very bright, neat appearance. They are used not 
only as couches by day, but as hanging beds at night. It 
requires some practice to learn how to lie comfortably in one 



352 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

of these cloth swings. The position which the Brazilian 
adopts is oblique, from the corner of one extremity to that 
diagonally opposite. Having assumed this position, you dis- 
cover that no pillow is necessary. If the hammock be de- 
rided, during the daytime, as a lazy institution, it is just 
such a one as is needed in the debilitating temperature of the 
tropics ; and, used as a bed at night, it is certainly clean, cool, 
comfortable, and conducive to health. Aside from the Ama- 
zon Yalley, or rather including it, the part of South America 
where hammocks flourish most vigorously may be roughly 
indicated as between the Caribbean Sea and the tenth degree 
of south latitude. 

The route followed by the river-steamers from Para is 
westwardly, around the great Island of Marajo, until we enter 
the Amazon proper, just beyond the mouth of the Xingu. 
More than one half the total length of the Amazon is a vast 
network of islands, channels, creeks, and lakes. It is a great 
archipelago, an inland sea full of islands of every conceivable 
size and shape, though they are very much alike in being 
low, level, and densely covered with forest. While we are 
in the Para River, we generally have a sky and water hori- 
zon, both before and behind us. In fact, a special and very 
appropriate name is given to a part of the river here — name- 
ly, the Bay of Marajo. We pass the wide mouth of the 
Tocantins River. The land is so low that on either side you 
discover only slight fringes of verdure. At night we stop 
for half an hour at the little town of Breves, on the Island of 
Marajo, and from here, until we near the mouth of the 
Xingu, we are in channels of about half a mile in width. 
Going on deck early the next morning, I obtained several 
extended vistas between the islands, and away out toward the 
main river. A few small schooners with odd masts and sails 
were observed. There do not seem to be any villages along 
this part of the river, but occasionally large, isolated huts, of 
palm-leaf sides and roof, and a few dug-out canoes, drawn up 
in the slime and floating debris, are noticed. The river is of 
a thick, muddy hue, though, when the water is allowed to 



AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 353 

settle, it becomes comparatively clear. Huge earthenware 
jars of it are stationed about our decks for ever-thirsty pas- 
sengers. The current is strong — three or four miles an hour 
— and carries along fruits, stalks, huge logs, and a great many 
large islands of grass and reeds, like those in the Paraguay 
River to which I have heretofore alluded, save that here 
many of them were forty or fifty feet square. As we neared 
the mouths of the Xingu, the forest, on the south shore, be- 
came indescribably grand and beautiful. It comes directly 
to the edge of the water, and is faced with great masses of 
reeds and other aquatic plants. Sitting at your ease in com- 
fortable extension-chairs, or reclining in your hammock, 
you may enjoy a panorama unequaled throughout the world. 
I have never anywhere seen such magnificent native woods. 
I had thought that some of the previous voyagers on the 
Amazon had exaggerated, that they had colored their accounts 
too highly ; and that, being specialists, they had observed 
with the enthusiasm peculiar to their kind. But, no ; the real- 
ity fully comes up to the descriptions of others, and my own 
ardent longings. Too great praise could not be bestowed 
upon the splendid Brazilian forest ; but I soon saw that it 
was, besides, a veritable botanist's paradise. The variety of 
plant-life is overwhelmingly and continuously great. You 
might perhaps take a photograph of any thousand feet, which 
should be in a manner typical of all, yet often, for long dis- 
tances, a particular species of some tree, most likely a mem- 
ber of the great palm family, will assert itself. The thicket 
is so compact that ordinarily you can not see farther into it 
than a score of feet, yet even this is quite enough to show 
leaves varying in color from the lightest to the darkest green, 
and from yellow to black. Every species of plant, from a 
tiny spire of grass to a giant monarch of the forest, a hundred 
and fifty feet in height, and with a hillock of verdure atop, 
is represented. Yenerable trees, adolescent saplings, vines, 
parasites, lichens, orchids, ferns, grasses, and arums are here 
grouped, massed, or interwoven. Many of the large trees re- 
semble forest-trees in the temperate zone, but the palms at 

23 



354 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

once proclaim another sun, soil, and atmosphere. Hundreds 
of species of these palms flourish, always striking, graceful, 
and beautiful. Among them the already mentioned assai is, 
perhaps, the most charming, through its light and airy ele- 
gance, its slender, ringed stem, its glossy, fresh-colored tuft. 
Several of the largest trees — not palms — spread above the 
others a wide, thick roof of verdure, like a vast umbrella. 
Others have so dense a covering of leaves and intertwined 
vines that you hardly see their trunks, while elsewhere a 
great mass of tall, slim stems crowd so closely together as 
almost to resemble a natural picket-fence. The great groves 
of palm-trees looked like vast verdant halls. The mighty 
columnar stems bore high aloft a solid roof of glossy green, 
walking under which the proudest of earth might justly feel 
awed and humbled. The stems and trunks add not a little 
to the pictorial effect of the vegetation. They range from 
green to gray, from red to white, from brown to black. 
Some are smooth, others furrowed. You see them rugged 
with rings, encircling lianas, or the stems of great fallen 
leaves. Some have very much the appearance of what sailors 
term " made masts " — that is, they seem constructed of about 
a dozen segments, tightly fitted together and presenting an 
almost smoothly rounded surface. 



CHAPTEE XL. 

UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 

Eveky morning at six o'clock decks are washed, and every- 
one must turn out of his or her hammock and trice it up out 
of the way of the scrubbers. This daily deck-washing is a 
great nuisance. Over two hours are consumed in what might 
be done in fifteen minutes, and in the mean time a passen- 
ger can not find a dry place on the steamer in which to sit. 
The attendance is especially bad. No care whatever is taken 
of the cabins. It is quite impossible to get clean towels, 
and if you wish water for washing you must go and draw 
it yourself, or find an unoccupied boy to get it for you. 
Even feeing a servant will not necessarily get a favor done 
a second time. Candles are very scarce ; so are clean nap- 
kins. At meal-times the passengers do not keep their origi- 
nal seats, but sit down wherever they may happen to be, and 
when the bell is rung such a rush is made that several times 
I have had to walk all around the table to find a vacant seat 
— of course, with a stained table-cloth, and some other per- 
son's soiled napkin before me. The captain takes all his 
meals in his own cabin, out of which he is seldom seen. The 
days were very hot, and there were almost always heavy 
showers in the afternoon or evening. The nights were suffi- 
ciently cold for a blanket if in a cabin, and for two of them 
if in a hammock. At night it is no unusual thing to see hus- 
band and wife sleeping in the same hammock. Two small 
children, thus placed, look natural enough ; but two grown 
people appear rather ridiculous. We have two pilots, who 
relieve each other every four hours. They sit in front of 



356 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the pilot-house, and keep up a constant series of directions to 
the quartermaster at the wheel behind them. So familiar are 
these men with the vagaries of the river, that we go ahead 
at full speed all night, no matter how dark it may be. The 
current being very strong, the wheels are in some danger 
from the great trunks which float swiftly down, but most of 
these are avoided by an expert pilot. The steamer is steered, 
not by compass, nor even by the stars, here so very bright, 
but by the configuration of the banks. The air is exceeding- 
ly damp, and everything made of leather, allowed to stand 
for a few days, becomes covered with the down-like fungi of 
green mold. A good deal of local travel gave animation to 
the river ; we put down and took up passengers at every sta- 
tion. The principal part of their baggage consisted of a 
hammock, a pair of slippers, and a pet bird, dog, or monkey. 
A man in the Amazon Valley, before walking, invariably 
takes up his bed. The well-to-do passengers bring tin trunks, 
which preserve their contents against rain and insects. The 
traditional " shirt-collar and pair of spurs " are quite equaled 
and realized in the children, who wander and play all over 
the steamer with absolutely nothing on save a pair of shoes 
and stockings. 

The Xingu has two mouths. We passed through the 
easterly and wider one, and entered the Amazon proper by 
way of the narrow but deep westerly branch. Upon the left 
bank I saw the first high land since leaving Para. A series 
of densely wooded ridges met the view, perhaps three or four 
hundred feet in height, lying back a short distance from the 
river. Looking at my large Portuguese map, I found but 
two or three other distinct clusters of a like importance, near 
the river, for a distance of twenty-five hundred miles from 
Para, or as far as Nauta in Peru. The central part of the 
Amazon is also, it appears, throughout its entire length, full 
of islands and sand-banks, the beginnings of islands ; and the 
grown islands are mostly oblong and of large area. They 
are all, of course, like the mainland, thickly covered with 
vegetation. In this respect, and in that of the great number 



UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON 357 

of connecting creeks, lakes, and minor brandies, though, 
some of these are so large as to seemingly make two parallel 
Amazons, this gigantic stream has no rival on the face of the 
globe. It realizes the Miltonic phrase " ocean-stream." The 
optical phenomena of mirage is frequently observed. The east- 
ern or lower half lacks the picturesque element derived from 
tortuousness. It is all either in enormous sea-like expanses, 
with water horizons before and behind you, or banked by long, 
parallel, wooded shores. Its tributaries, however, are more 
or less winding. The lower river varies from two to ten 
miles in width, but you are never sure of not mistaking the 
shore of islands for the actual banks. The Amazon is gen- 
erally very deep — an average of one hundred and fifty feet. 
Steamers of two thousand tons can at all seasons of the_year 
go safely up to Manaos, a thousand miles. At Tabatinga, 
in Peru, two thousand miles from the Atlantic, it is one 
and a half miles wide. The Amazon is the largest river in 
the world — with all its upper windings over four thousand 
miles long — and receives eight tributaries, each over one 
thousand miles in length. The area of the basin of the 
Amazon is nearly three times that of the Mississippi. The 
Amazon and its tributaries furnish fifty thousand miles of 
navigable waters, half of which are available for steamers. In 
the basin of this mighty river an area, fifteen hundred miles 
long and one thousand broad, is covered by vast forests. 
Here, among many valuable timbers, you find the rare tor- 
toise-shell wood, pronounced the most beautiful cabinet-wood 
in the world. It is, however, an unhealthy region, and so 
thinly settled that there is scarcely an average of one person 
to ten square miles. Speaking of forests reminds me that 
those of South America (which are mostly in Brazil) occupy 
about two thirds of its surface, and that three fourths of the 
continent may be regarded as tropical. These forests differ 
in at least one particular from those in other parts of the 
world, in that many of the largest are adorned on their out- 
skirts with the most brilliant flowers. In fact, everywhere 
the magnitude, variety, and gracefulness of the trees, and the 



358 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

profusion and brilliancy of the flowers, are extraordinary. 
Birds also, of very beautiful plumage, are found in greater 
abundance in Brazil than in any other part of the world. So 
far as the inhabitants of the water were concerned, I noticed 
several varieties of fish, notably porpoises and a few alliga- 
tors, but the paucity of water-fowl is rather striking. A few 
black ducks, white herons, and small blue and brown birds, 
are all. There are very few native boats, and not many huts 
along the shore, and these were deserted, being half-sub- 
merged and rendered tenantless by the rainy season, which 
was just over. 

Late in the evening of the third day we reached the town 
of Santarem, the second on the river in size and commercial 
importance. It is situated directly at the mouth of the blue 
Tapajoz, on the right bank of the Amazon. It is built close 
down to the water's edge, and has a large church, some fine 
public buildings, and ordinary two-story dwellings. In its 
neighborhood we occasionally saw great ea?npos, or meadows, 
level as the floor of a house, and covered with the thickest 
and richest of green grass. We then threaded an especially 
intricate network of islands, lakes, rivers, creeks, and sand- 
banks, and halted at Obidos, on the left bank, our next port of 
call. This is the third important town on the river. We made 
fast to a large tree, in addition to our anchor, for the current 
runs very swiftly here, the river being but a little more than 
a mile in width, though very deep. Obidos, standing upon 
a rocky bluff, and with a background of hills, is very attract- 
ive, though it counts scarcely a single two-story house, and 
many of the others are uninhabited and dilapidated. As I 
wandered through the streets, I saw scarcely any one at the 
doors or windows. It seemed almost like a cemetery. The 
banks were considerably occupied by cacao-plantations. At 
a distance these somewhat resemble an old orange-grove. 
The chocolate-trees are planted three or four feet apart, and 
are from twenty to thirty feet in height. The cacao has a 
brownish bark ; and directly from the trunk, or large branches, 
springs a pulpy fruit, from whose flat, oblong seeds the choco- 



UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 359 

late of commerce is made. We passed some curious trading- 
boats ; they had two masts, the foremost one bearing two 
yards, and the deck was covered with a huge round cabin. 
These boats contain a miscellaneous stock of goods, and are 
sailed to villages where there are no stores. There they 
remain until the trade is exhausted, when they journey to 
another village. They are clumsy-looking craft, that might 
do justice to the ancient piratical boats of the Barbary coast. 
A few small schooners, with rakish masts, were also seen. To 
show the force of wind and current on the Amazon : vessels, 
with furled sails, can drift to its mouth from the base of the 
Andes, twenty-six hundred miles, in two months, and may 
be brought back most of the way with sails filled by the 
strong easterly breeze which generally prevails. The east 
wind is, besides, so constant, that vessels go up against the 
powerful current as rapidly as they are borne by the current 
down-stream. The pirogues are propelled by short paddles, 
which have enormous and nearly round blades. The large 
canoes have one or two masts, with semi-cylindrical straw 
cabins in the center,- or sometimes large wooden cabins in the 
stern. We occasionally passed steamers going up or down 
the river, but there did not seem to be much shipping of any 
kind. Perhaps, however, this impression was due to the 
enormous size of the river. There are two kinds of river 
huts : one with straw-mat sides and straw thatches, and one 
with mud walls and tile roofs. The former are generally 
found in the more swampy sections, and are raised upon posts. 
Clustered about the landing-places, where a few pirogues are 
generally drawn up in the mud, are always to be seen a half- 
dozen or so of stark-naked children. Such men as happen to 
be noticed about wear nothing but trousers. The huts are sur- 
rounded with such food-supplies as mandioc, maize, bananas, 
and sugar-cane, and perhaps also a little tobacco. Great slabs 
of the pirarucu fish hang in the sun to be cured. This fish 
the Indians eat when fresh also, but, as it has a very soapy 
taste, it is not much relished by foreigners. As we slowly 
passed, two or three degenerate curs crouched gloomily about, 



360 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and, too lazy to growl, stared at us in the most amusing 
maimer. The Indians are mostly engaged in collecting and 
selling wood, which many of the steamers use for their boil- 
ers, though the vessels of the Amazonian Company burn 
coal. 

On the morning of the eighth day from Para we entered 
the Rio Negro, the spot where its inky-black stream enters 
the yellow Amazon being marked by a distinct and abrupt 
line extending across the river. After the dirty Amazon, 
the black though clear Negro was a pleasant change. Just 
below the junction of the Negro with the Amazon is a very 
large island, which, indeed, is so large as to contain an exten- 
sive lake. Directly west of this island the Amazon is called 
the Solimoens, and still farther up to its source the Mara- 
non. The Rio ISegro contains almost no islands at first, but 
higher up it is nearly choked with them. A few miles 
from its mouth, on the left bank, is situated the city of Ma- 
naos, the capital of Amazonas. The river here is a mile in 
width. The city of Man&os begins about thirty feet above 
the river, at its edge, and slopes back amid so much vegeta- 
tion that you can not see half the houses. In the river were 
half a dozen double-decked steamers, two of which, one bound 
for the river Jurua, and the other for Iquitos, in Peru, soon 
fastened themselves alongside, in order to get what freight 
and passengers we had for their respective destinations. 
Anchored abreast the city were a small gunboat, a store- 
ship, several small launches, and, near the shore, a score or so 
of Indian craft. The most conspicuous object of Manaos, to 
one coming up from the Amazon, is a large, newly built 
market, standing on a point of land which projects into the 
Negro. The market-house is made of zinc, with a very orna- 
mental front. In what seems about the center of the city, 
near the river, upon a prominent knoll, is the cathedral, a 
great pile of flaring white masonry. Beyond this, to the left, 
is an old fort, not, however, disclosing any guns above its 
walls. Near the cathedral, on the opposite side, is a very 
foreign-looking, iron-girder bridge, spanning a small river. 



UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 361 

At the extreme eastern end of the city is a large saw-mill. 
A great fleet of boats came out to us from the shore, down 
to which were speedily driven several very civilized-looking 
hackney-coaches ! Having plenty of room, Manaos is a city 
very greatly spread out. In a long walk upon shore I no- 
ticed that it was laid out at right angles, that the thorough- 
fares, save the principal one, called Brazil Street, were nar- 
row, and badly paved with rough cobble-stones, and that the 
lighting was by means of oil-lamps. The houses are mostly 
of but one story. The ridges of some of the roofs were so 
fully covered with turkey-buzzards as almost to make one at 
first think they were an artificial ornament. On nearly every 
corner is a store, usually of miscellaneous articles and provis- 
ions, but sometimes devoted to a special line of goods. The 
business streets smell strongly of India-rubber. In the great 
warehouses you see enormous masses of dried caoutchouc- 
sap, or rubber, resembling great cheeses, especially when cut 
through. These are black, though the juice, when first ob- 
tained from the trees, is a milky white, the dark shade being 
produced by smoking. Brazil is the greatest rubber-produc- 
ing country of the world, though in Asia there are two species, 
the Urceola and Ficus, denominated as elastica. The Bra- 
zilian tree is called Siphonia elastica, and is known to botan- 
ists as a herbaceous succulent. I noticed several colleges, 
and a fine, large building at the southern end of the city was 
inscribed "Lyceo." Two newspapers are published here, 
each three times a week. One is styled " Amazonas, a Lib- 
eral Organ." I have already alluded to the hackney-coaches, 
and here also, in the center of the vast Brazilian forest, are 
cafes, billiard-saloons, and barber-shops. An opera-house, 
which, if completed, would have rivaled that at Para, was 
begun, but want of funds prevented its red-sandstone walls 
reaching a greater height than about ten feet. At present 
the inhabitants receive their supplies of water from the 
Negro and small streams near by, whence it is distributed 
over the city in jars and barrels ; but some fine water- works, 
similar to those at Pernambuco, are being built for Manaos. 



362 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

In the near future water is to be obtained from a spring-fed 
stream, about three miles distant, pumped into a reservoir 
some two hundred feet higher than Manaos, to which it will 
be conducted in a large iron pipe. 

My walk led me along a wide road, shaded by hand- 
some lime trees, past the barracks, with red-sandstone walls, 
brass field-pieces, and sentinels before the gate. I then 
turned to the right, and upon high ground, commanding 
good views of the Rio Negro and the city, I found the Bo- 
tanical Gardens and " Botanical Museum of Amazonas.'" 
The building is a handsome two-story structure, faced with 
tiles, with two wings, the one labeled " Museo," the other 
" Laboratorio." It is a sort of general selection of the prod- 
ucts of nature and man in Amazonas — a vast province of 
eight hundred thousand square miles, but with a population 
of only sixty thousand inhabitants. It is open to the Manaos 
public only on Sundays, but to students and foreign travel- 
ers every day in the week. The first or ground floor is de- 
voted to a herbarium, a chemical laboratory, and draughting 
and photographic rooms. Up-stairs are a library of works 
upon Brazil, and a very complete ethnographical collection, 
which relates to the Indian tribes of this great province, and 
illustrates in a very interesting manner their clothes, domes- 
tic utensils, weapons, ornaments, implements of the chase, 
etc. The collection numbers some three thousand specimens, 
and I was shown a complete manuscript catalogue, which 
was expected soon to be published. The director of the mu- 
seum is the famous Brazilian botanist, ethnographer, and 
explorer, Dr. J. Barboza Rodrigues, from whom I received 
much kindly attention. Dr. Rodrigues is widely known, 
among botanists, for his discovery of more than one hundred 
varieties of palms and five hundred and fifty of orchids, hav- 
ing made these two families of interesting and beautiful 
plants his specialties. The doctor is very expert with pencil 
and water-colors, and showed me a score of great folios full 
of splendid pictures of the various palms and orchids which 
he has discovered. He has published a large number of 



UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 363 

learned monographs upon the ethnography, archaeology, and 
philology of the Indian tribes. 

On my return trip to Para there were but about a dozen 
first-class passengers, which greatly added to my comfort, 
affording increased room and better attention at table. We 
kept to the middle of the river, and with double the speed of 
the upward voyage, though we made the same number of 
calls. The downward journey is more pleasant, because one 
is able to enjoy the fresh southeast trade- wind, which blows 
steadily and strongly up the river during the greater part of 
the day. We took on board many beef-cattle, embarking 
them in the most primitive and tiresome manner imaginable. 
In fact, four hours were sometimes consumed in doing what 
might have been done in fifteen minutes. The cattle were 
corraled at the bank's edge, from which we were always dis- 
tant as much as fifty feet. A little wharf might have been 
built and the cattle put on board by this means, or they 
might have been placed in a scow and drawn alongside with 
little trouble or loss of time. But, no — the extraordi- 
nary method adopted was as follows : A bullock being las- 
soed within the corral, an attempt was made to get him down 
into the water, and then to swim him to the side of the 
steamer, there to hoist him on board by means of a stout rope 
fastened about his horns, and attached to a steam winch. A 
large rope was stretched from shore to steamer, and plying 
up and down this, in a canoe, were four or five men whose 
object was to hold the animals and draw them to the side of 
the steamer, where one of the men in the bow would attempt 
to slip the lifting noose over the horns. Of course, with all 
these details, and the bawling of the men, the animals were 
terribly scared, and plunged, or ran, or stood obstinately, try- 
ing to upset the canoe, etc. They frequently broke away also 
from those endeavoring to pull them from the corral to the 
steamer, and scampered up the road leading to town, or away 
into the forest. In order to capture such truants as these, 
two or three mounted men, with lassoes, had to be constantly 
employed. To add to the trouble, darkness would often come 



364 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

on before the cargo was completed, and an animal could only 
be lassoed by the light given by flashes of lightning. The 
men laughed and shouted, and cracked jokes, and seemed to 
be having a most enjoyable time. The whole scene was well 
illustrative of the country and people ; and I have no doubt 
that a thousand years from now, if there are any cattle re- 
maining in these provinces, they will still be freighted to 
Para in the same kind of steamer and hauled on board in the 
same pristine manner. Our cargo up the river had consisted 
of foreign manufactured articles and provisions, and that 
down embraced rubber, cacao, bananas, Brazil-nuts, and beef- 
cattle. Arrival at Para happily terminated my voyage of 
two thousand miles upon the giant Amazon. 

In continuing my journey, I wished to go from Para to 
Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, a distance of some 
four hundred miles up the coast to the northward, but there 
was no steamer, of any nationality, taking this route. In 
fact, the only break in the steamer service of the whole of 
the vast sea-coast of South America, is just through this com- 
paratively short distance, though from Cayenne the connec- 
tion is resumed, and you can go on along the coast by vari- 
ous lines, calling at all the chief seaports until you reach As- 
pinwall. Nor is there usually any ship or ocean-canoe to be 
obtained at Para. The voyage is occasionally made from 
Cayenne south, but that is with favoring current and wind, 
and the return journej' of a canoe has been known to last 
three weeks. I found, therefore, that on this occasion the 
" longest way around would be the shortest way home." 
This was to go to Bridgetown, in Barbados, the southern- 
most of the Windward Islands, where I might get an Eng- 
lish steamer to Georgetown, in British Guiana, and depart 
thence, by Dutch steamer, to Paramaribo, in Dutch Guiana, 
and finally get to Cayenne in a French steamer. I must 
then return to Georgetown, and go on to the Island of Trini- 
dad, in order to ascend the Orinoco and visit other parts of 
Venezuela. So I again patronized the " United States and 
Brazil Steamship Company," this time taking passage in the 



UPON TEE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 365 

Finance, a sister-ship of that in which I had gone from Per- 
nambuco to Para. Early in the morning we put our pilot 
aboard his brig, near the mouth of the Para, and a few hours 
later we passed the light-ship, and headed toward the north. 
The eastern end of the great Island of Marajo, being low 
ground and far distant, was not visible. During the after- 
noon we crossed the equator — for myself, in various parts of 
the world, the twelfth time — and I entered once more the 
northern hemisphere. We were soon crossing the mouths 
of the Amazon, fourteen miles wider than is the navigable 
length of what we are wont to call the " lordly " Hudson ! 
The water continued all day, and even until noon the follow- 
ing day, a dirty, yellowish-green in color. Fresh water from 
the Amazon may be taken up in the sea nearly two hundred 
miles from its mouth ! 



CHAPTER XLI. 



TO THE GULANAS VIA BARBADOS. 



We had a pleasant voyage of four days to Barbados. 
The island is encircled by coral reefs, and visited by violent 
hurricanes, which make the navigation dangerous and cause 
great damage. It is about twenty miles in length and half 
as many in width. It is low and undulating, with hills 
and valleys, and sparsely covered with trees; but the soil 
is fertile and very minutely cultivated, as it must be with 
a dense population of one hundred and seventy-five thou- 
sand negroes. The exports are sugar, rum, and arrow-root, 
the nutritive starch used as a medicinal food. This plant 
acquires its strange name from the fact that the Indians 
once employed its roots to extract the poison of arrows. 
Barbados belongs to Great Britain, and is the most impor- 
tant member of the "Windward Islands. It has its own 
Legislature. In the roadstead of Bridgetown, the capital, 
were half a dozen goodly sized ships, and three steamers of 
the Royal Mail Company, namely, one each from Jamaica, 
Trinidad, and British Guiana. I was rowed ashore, passed 
the ordeal of the custom-house without delay, and found 
quarters at the Nile Hotel, in a square facing an inner ship- 
ping basin and opposite a small bronze statue of Lord Nelson. 
A hotel across the street is styled the Trafalgar House, so 
there is no difficulty in realizing that one is in a British colony. 
In the center of the square is a very pretty little public gar- 
den containing a large fountain. On one side, covering an 
entire block, are the Government offices, substantial-looking 



TO THE GUI ANAS VIA BARBADOS. 367 

edifices, of a rough gray stone, two stories in height. A 
Gothic tower, containing a handsome four-faced clock, rises 
from one of the large buildings. The streets of the business 
portion of Barbados are generally narrow, and macadamized 
with a stone whose dust is, unfortunately, very trying to the 
eyes. The sidewalks are so narrow that the streets have to be 
utilized by pedestrians. The buildings are of every size and 
shape, and range from one to three stories in height. There 
are several large stores of wonderfully miscellaneous con- 
tents, where the number and attentions of the clerks bring 
to mind the cheaper class of retail stores at home. These are 
filled all day long by a chattering, chaffing set of negroes, 
who are always amusing. The business part of Barbados 
being compressed into a very small district, the streets always 
present a gay and animated appearance. Telephones are a 
wide-spread convenience. Good and cheap hackney-carriages 
abound, a tramway runs to a suburb, and a railway semicir- 
cles the island. The cathedral is Episcopalian, or, more ac- 
curately, Church of England. It is an interesting old pile, 
surrounded by crumbling tombstones, some of which date 
from the sixteenth century, and are shaded by palms, ferns, 
and bread-fruits. The sacred edifice is large, with stained- 
glass windows and a good organ, and the walls are covered 
with memorial tablets, while the floor is paved with grave- 
slabs. In the Public Buildings, already mentioned as occu- 
pying a block near the shipping basin, are the two Parlia- 
ment Houses, the Assembly and Council Chamber, surround- 
ed by shrubs, lawns, and flowers. At the head of the grand 
staircase are two stained-glass windows, which beautifully 
picture Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both in full state 
dress, with conventional regalia. A door opens from the 
corridor into the large Assembly room, with ponderous ceil- 
ing made of huge timbers, and circles of chairs for the mem- 
bers. The Council Chamber is similar, and, in addition, 
adorned with full-length portraits of local celebrities. The 
remaining rooms consist of public offices, the Government 
Library, with twenty thousand volumes of general literature, 



368 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and a large apartment, called Albert Hall, where traveling 
theatrical companies perform. 

One afternoon I rode in the only tramway in Bridgetown, 
which runs in a southerly direction to a suburb called Hast- 
ings. There are but four towns in Barbados besides the cap- 
ital. Hastings is the English garrison-post. Here are neat, 
clean-looking barracks, military storehouses, and a great level, 
grassy plain for a drill and parade ground. Natives are 
employed as soldiers as well as police, but, as the blacks vastly 
outnumber the whites of the islaud, it is found advisable to 
keep a stout contingent of British troops always on hand. 
Beyond the garrison, and at the terminus of the tramway, a 
hotel, with one hundred and fifty-five rooms, has just been 
erected, with a view to luring some of New York's citizens, 
in the winter season, to Barbados as a sanitarium, the cli- 
mate of the island, though warm, being equable and healthy. 
A fine bathing-beach is one of the attractions. Others are 
the steamer, post, and telegraph facilities, and the fact that 
English is the language of the island. Barbados is especially 
well served with steamers plying to Europe, the three Amer- 
icas, and the West India Islands. Schooners of about two 
hundred tons burden also connect with the other islands and 
with British Guiana. 

Another day I took a trip in the little railway which runs 
in a circular course toward the south and east side of the 
island, and then to the north, along the edge of the ocean. 
The total length of this road is thirty miles. It is a narrow 
gauge, with small light cars and small locomotives, all, of 
course, of English manufacture. Two trains each way are 
run daily, but the road is not in a very prosperous condition, 
notwithstanding that its first cost could not have been very 
heavy, owing to the level character of the island. Bridge- 
town is spread over a good deal of ground, the dwellings of 
the negroes being all of wood, and one story in height. They 
are very small, often appearing like rows of dog-kennels along 
the narrow streets. The houses of the English residents are 
generally built of coral and lime-like rock. The latter seems 



TO TEE QUI AN AS VIA BARBADOS. 369 

to be the basis of the whole island, is quarried in a compara- 
tively soft condition, and hardens on exposure to the air. 
These residences are large, generally two stories in height, 
with widely protecting verandas and liberal supplies of 
large Yenetian blinds. They stand in beautiful gardens of 
trees, shrubs, and flowers, with neatly trimmed lawns. The 
bend of the trees, all in one direction, plainly indicates the 
force and direction of the trade-winds. The train passes 
through immense plantations of sugar-cane, together with 
fields of maize and potatoes, more especially for the labor- 
ers. Large sugar-mills, with tall chimneys, and huge wind- 
mills for grinding cane and pumping water, with great 
farm-houses for the proprietors or managers, and small vil- 
lages of toy houses for the negro hands, are seen in every 
direction. The round stone towers, and huge wood and sail 
arms of the windmills remind one strongly of Holland. Bar- 
bados is exceedingly bare of trees — you see them only about 
the farm-houses or in stray copses — and yet, owing to the 
beneficent trade-winds, rain falls plenteously. Rarely is 
there drought, and even then water may always be found at 
a very few feet below the surface. Upon the eastern coast 
you notice great, uncouth masses of coral rock, a long way 
from shore, out in the surf, whose continual beating has 
worn away their bases, so that some appear like huge mush- 
rooms, while others are mutilated like the Egyptian Sphinx. 
Near one of the stations stands Codrington College, the 
largest and best-appointed institution of the kind in the 
West Indies. The round railway trip occupied four hours. 

I had a few days to wait for the bi-monthly steamer to 
Georgetown, British Gruiana. It was one of the Royal Mail 
line, all fine vessels built on one model — long, low, narrow, 
with very sharp prow and raking masts. They are fast, clean, 
well served, and well disciplined, though it is hardly necessary 
to speak of the last, as this is a qualification always possessed 
by English steamers. The cabins are large, and extend the 
entire length of the vessel. A punkah, or fan-machine, is 
provided for the saloon-table. Negroes, and natives of the 
24 



370 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

West Indies generally, are employed both as sailors and wait- 
ers. In short, these vessels are admirably adapted to the 
tropical regions in which they mostly ply, and are purposely 
built low and strong, to withstand the hurricanes prevalent 
in the West Indies. The big ocean-steamship direct from 
Southampton brought us a large number of cabin-passen- 
gers, as she did also to the other connecting boats, those for 
Trinidad and St. Thomas. The steamer from England was 
to go on to Hayti, Jamaica, and Aspinwall. On the second 
day out, the bright blue color of the deep ocean began to 
change to the dull green of the comparatively shallow sea. 
Great sand-banks and mud-flats run far out from the shores 
of the three Guianas. The coast of British Guiana is so 
extremely low, that the first intimation one has of it is an 
occasional fringe of trees, or more probably some of the 
tall chimneys of the sugar-plantations, which appear to rise 
directly out of the water. All the coast, from above the 
Essequibo River to the Corentyn, is one continuous level of 
cane-fields. At noon we took a pilot from the light-ship, and 
anchored fourteen miles from Georgetown, which, with its 
shipping in the river in front of it, was faintly visible. The 
coast, both above and below the Demerara River, increased a 
little in height. The water became of a dirty, thick, yellow 
color. In making for the river a bar has to be crossed, on 
which, even at high tide, there are but eighteen feet of 
water. The steamers of this branch of the Royal Mail serv- 
ice are, therefore, purposely made of a draught to suit this 
shoal. Of the city of Georgtown, from the ocean, but little 
may be seen, so low and level is the ground upon which it is 
built, and so thickly are its gardens and streets filled with 
trees, shrubs, and flowers. You seem to see only a tall, round 
lighthouse, the towers of a couple of public buildings, the 
hotel and market, and a picturesque church-steeple. The 
city stands upon the east bank of the Demerara River, which 
here, at its entrance into the ocean, is about a mile in width. 
It extends a couple of miles along the river, and nearly the 
same distance into the interior. Upon the opposite side are 



TO THE 0UIAFA8 VIA BARBADOS. 371 

sugar estates and a small village which is reached by ferry. 
The coast in the distance seems lined with mangroves and 
cocoanut-palms. At the northern extremity of the city, on 
ocean and river, is a fort, with strong, sloping walls of massive 
masonry, and low parapet, over which ominously peer a dozen 
or more cannon. Now we are abreast of the lighthouse, and 
not far from here are the buildings of the railway terminus. 
The line runs along the coast, to the eastward, a distance of 
twenty miles. This is about one third of the distance to the 
town of Berbice — the only other town in British Guiana — to 
which it is intended some day to extend the railroad. Hence 
to the extreme southern point of the city the river-bank is 
flanked with wharves covered with great warehouses of wood 
and galvanized iron. Many ships and a few steamers are 
always loading or unloading at these warehouses, but the 
larger vessels — about a score of ships and four steamers — 
are lying in a long row in the stream, a short distance from 
the wharves. The first of these was a great clipper-ship, just 
arrived from Calcutta, with several hundred Hindoo coolies, 
or laborers, aboard. Our steamer anchors, and, after submit- 
ting to a nominal inspection of baggage, the passengers go on 
shore in a little iron tender. The first impressions of a visitor, 
as he lands and walks around, or perhaps rides in one of the 
little hackney victorias with which the place abounds, are 
that he has arrived at a clean, orderly, busy, and pretty little 
city. The wharves present scenes of bustling commerce. 
The first street, called Water Street, running parallel with 
the river, is the chief seat of the warehouses and merchants' 
stores. As you move along toward your hotel, you are struck 
with the number and great variety of races represented — 
Hindoos, Parsees, Chinese, negroes, Portuguese, Creoles, and 
whites. Your next surprise will probably be in finding a 
very good hotel — the " Tower Hotel," so called from its high 
tower, which contains the winding staircase connecting its 
four stories, and from the belvedere of which a capital view 
of the city and river may be obtained. This hotel is new, 
and contains large, airy sleeping-rooms, with abundance of 



372 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

windows. It also includes public and private dining-rooms, 
ladies' parlor, gentlemen's reading-room, a billiard-room, and 
a bar-room. The deep porticoes, shaded by great Venetian 
blinds, and furnished with chairs and tables, are pleasant 
lounging-places. 

Georgetown is laid out at right angles, with numbers of 
parks and gardens. Its streets are broad and macadamized, 
and lighted at night by gas. The sidewalks are of cement, 
or of blocks of a composition of small stones and asphalt, 
from the famous pitch-lake in the Island of Trinidad. 
Through many of its streets run canals, a reminiscence of 
the Dutch, who originally established Georgetown, and there 
copied their maritime towns at home. Many of the public 
and private buildings, in their peculiar style of architecture, 
and their gable-ends facing the streets, call to mind Holland. 
The canals are not unheal thful, and serve a useful purpose 
during the rainy season, when they carry off the surplus sur- 
face water. The stores and dwelling-houses of Georgetown 
are generally built of wood and galvanized iron, with roofs of 
slate or shingle, and all, owing to the low land, have to be 
erected on brick pillars or heavy wooden piles. The size and 
vast stocks of some of the larger stores, supplying everything 
from bijouterie to boots, from staples to stationery, are very 
astonishing. Several of these repositories are handsomely 
and appropriately fitted up. Some of the public buildings 
are of brick and stucco. The dwellings generally stand 
detached and secluded in beautiful gardens. They are two 
stories in height, rarely of three, with pretty towers and cu- 
polas. One sees numbers of large wooden and iron tanks near 
them, which are used as cisterns for holding rain-water — the 
drinking-water of the city. The latter is well supplied with 
cabs, which are both good and cheap — by distance to any 
part of the city, the price is one shilling ; by time, four shil- 
lings the hour. Besides the cab stands, one notices stands of 
mule-carts and even of donkey-carts. Three lines of tram- 
way start from the post-office, which is centrally located and 
near the river. One line runs northerly to the railway-station, 




1 ^WF ^ 




4 Chinese Immigrant, Georgetown. 



TO THE GUIANAS VIA BARBADOS. 373 

another eastwardlj to the Botanical Gardens, and another 
westwardlj around to the first great plantation on the south, 
called " La Penitence." Georgetown has an " elegant sufli- 
ciency " of two very different kinds of public resorts, churches 
and clubs. You have a choice of the churches, or chapels, 
of England, Scotland, the Wesleyan Methodists, Koman 
Catholics, United Presbyterians, Congregational Dissenters, 
the London Missionary Society, the Moravians, Lutherans, 
the coolie missions, Indian missions, sailors' missions, a Port- 
uguese mission, and so on. As there are only two thousand 
whites in the whole colony, some of the English churches 
must be content with rather slim congregations. Then, as 
to clubs, besides the usual social and convivial cliques pecul- 
iar to large cities, I find chess, rowing, athletic, lawn-tennis, 
cricket, rifle, and horse-racing clubs. 

The sea-front of British Guiana is about three hundred 
miles in length, with an interior depth of perhaps four hun- 
dred miles. Its entire population is now set down at two 
hundred and fifty thousand, of which some forty thousand 
are allotted to the capital. The population of the colony is 
quite as mixed as that of the metropolis. Only about eight 
thousand aborigines are supposed to be left. When slavery 
was abolished, in 1814, it was found necessary to recruit the 
ranks of laborers by immigration. There are now in the 
country from the West India Islands about eighteen thousand 
immigrants ; from India sixty-five thousand ; from China 
five thousand; from Madeira and the Azores seven thou- 
sand ; from Africa five thousand ; or a total of one hundred 
thousand immigrants employed as agricultural laborers. 
Along the coasts, and from twenty to fifty miles inland, are 
the cultivated lands — mud flats or alluvial deposits, composed 
chiefly of blue clay impregnated with sea-salt, and rich with 
decomposed vegetable matter. A large part is below high- 
water mark. Numerous fertile islands, some from twelve to 
fifteen miles in length, lying in the estuary of the Essequibo, 
are under sugar-cane cultivation. The interior of the colony 
consists of well-watered savannas, used for cattle-raising, 



374 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and also dense forests of timber, very valuable for house and 
ship building, and for household furniture. Though cattle- 
farms and cocoa, plantain, and cocoanut estates alternate with 
each other, the vast bulk of the exports is sugar. The prod- 
ucts of the colony would, in fact, stand somewhat in this 
ratio of supply : sugar, rum, molasses, timber, cocoanuts, and 
charcoal. A fine, large sugar estate — to give the reader a 
general idea — will have, perhaps, two thousand acres under 
cultivation, twelve hundred laborers, and a yearly output of 
four thousand tons of sugar. Many of these sugar estates 
have fancy or sentimental names, in Dutch or French, some 
of which are humorously as well as pathetically suggestive — 
as " La Bonne Intention " (The Good Intention) ; " Goedver- 
wagting" (Good Expectation of Hope) ; "Malgre Tout" (In 
spite of All) ; " Yive la Force ! " (Glory to Power) ; and 
" Zorg " (Care, Anxiety). Each of these great estates 
forms a small community by itself, and comprises — besides 
the male and female laborers — manager, overseers, engi- 
neers, a doctor, druggist, teacher, carpenter, blacksmith, 
book-keepers, chaplain, police, and an attorney and agents 
in Georgetown. 

British Guiana is divided into the three provinces of 
Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, and these again are sub- 
divided into parishes, named, singularly enough, after the 
Christian Evangelists and some of the alleged saints. It has 
a peculiar sort of government, its political constitution hav- 
ing been adopted from that established by its original Dutch 
possessors. The functions of a Legislative Council and 
House of Assembly are performed by the Governor and 
a Court of Policy, which, besides the chief magistrate, is 
composed of four official members appointed by the crown, 
and five elective members nominated by a body called the 
Electoral College and appointed by the court. The Gov- 
ernor and the Court of Policy attend to all public adminis- 
tration, save taxation and finance. These require in addition 
the services of six Financial Representatives, elected by their 
several constituencies, the assemblage thus constituted form- 



TO TEE OUIANAS VIA BARBADOS. 375 

ing what is termed the Combined Court. The executive 
power is vested in the Governor, whose annual salary is fixed 
at the handsome figure of twenty-five thousand dollars, with 
twelve thousand dollars additional for what are not very 
exactly outlined as " contingencies." The Governor is elect- 
ed for seven years. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

A BRITISH COLONY. 

Georgetown is not very rich in fine public buildings. 
The most attractive of them, however, is the new Law Courts, 
which is nearly completed. This is a large, L-shaped build- 
ing, to which an entire square has been assigned. It is two 
stories in height, and built in the "Queen Anne" style. It 
is fire-proof, the lower story being of brick, stucco, and iron, 
with cement floors. The doors are of iron, the window- 
frames of iron, the staircases of iron. The rooms above are 
beautifully furnished in varnished pine and hard, native 
woods, and are in a sort of Dutch Renaissance style. Near 
the new Law Courts stands what is styled, par excellence, 
the Public Building — a large, two-story, stuccoed structure, 
with a columned front and low central dome, occupying an 
entire square, and surrounded by neat lawns and pretty shrub 
and flower gardens. Between the Public Building and the 
river is the market, an enormous structure of galvanized iron, 
which would do credit to any city. It occupies an entire 
square. In the central facade is a great clock- tower, which 
has a fine belvedere atop. One half of the interior is ar- 
ranged as stalls for miscellaneous merchandise, and the re- 
mainder is occupied by market-women, who crouch upon the 
floor with their produce grouped about them, as is their wont 
all over South America. But comparatively few of the 
stalls were leased, showing thereby, as their rent is not high, 
that this great market is rather in advance of the present 
requirements of the city. The finest and largest church in 
Georgetown is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which is built 



A BRITISH COLONY. 377 

entirely of wood, and the greater part of it of the hard woods 
grown in the colony. This is the church that has the lofty 
and highly ornamental spire, which forms a picturesque feat- 
ure in the general view of the city as obtained from the off- 
ing. The cathedral, whose architecture is Gothic, has some 
line stained-glass windows, a high altar of marble and wood, 
and two good organs. In the post-office building a large 
room contains what is styled the " British Guiana Museum " 
— a collection representing the three kingdoms of nature. 
It is open to the public from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. daily. In 
the same building are the reading-rooms and library of the 
Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society. The rooms are 
large and comfortable, and fully supplied with European 
periodicals, while a miscellaneous library of about ten thou- 
sand volumes lines the walls of one of them. There are three 
extensive collections of books in three of the large stores — 
no store appearing to be devoted to a single line of goods ; 
so that, with the local periodicals, one has ample literary ex- 
ercise and food. The daily, bi-weekly, and weekly news- 
papers, the monthly and quarterly magazines, a bi-monthly 
"Mercantile Intelligencer," an annual blue-book, and a bi- 
weekly " Official Gazette," give an immense amount of local 
and statistical information. A building called Philharmonic 
Hall is used as a theatre. It contains about six hundred seats. 
In the center of the front row are some chairs upholstered in 
blue velvet, for the use of the Governor and family. The 
coat-of-arms of England, carved in wood, and highly colored, 
adorns the center of the proscenium arch, with the motto, 
" The world's a stage, the men and women merely players," 
extending across below it. The hall is lighted by large crys- 
tal chandeliers, and its walls are decorated with busts and 
the names of famous musicians and poets. Along with the 
great names of Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, and Moore, I was 
agreeably surprised to behold that of Longfellow, and dis- 
appointed not to see that of Byron. This theatre is occupied 
by strolling companies, and is also used for musical, literary, 
and other public meetings and entertainments. 



378 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

The residence of the Governor and family — called the 
Government House — is a plain, unpretending structure, of 
three stories, with a porte-cochere, a few stained-glass windows, 
and some belvederes. The building is surrounded by lawns, 
shrubs, and flowers, and a native soldier, in Zouave uniform, 
stands on guard at the gate. The Governor holds a public 
reception once a week. Near the Government House is a 
large park, occupying an entire square, called the Promenade 
Gardens, which is laid out in beds and paths, and filled with 
an extraordinary variety of those inevitable accompaniments 
— trees, shrubs, and flowers. So luxuriant, however, is the 
growth of this tropical verdure, that one can not distinguish 
well the different sorts of plants, the beds being simply a 
wild tangle of trunk, leaf, vine, and blossom. Especially 
striking, however, to a stranger from another clime, are the 
plants with colored leaves, the palms, the orchids, and the 
cacti family. The borders to the beds are of rough stones, 
and the paths are of broken shells. In the center of the 
gardens is an octagonal pavilion, in which the military band 
plays upon two afternoons of each week. There are several 
fashionable drives and promenades in Georgetown. One is 
to the sea wall and esplanade. The sea-wall extends for a 
mile or so along the coast, and, its top being cemented and 
provided with settees, it makes a fine promenade in the early 
morning or late afternoon, with the cool breezes and widely 
extended views of the ocean. A road runs parallel with the 
wall, and at a certain point a colored military band plays 
upon two afternoons of the week. The Botanical Gardens, 
about a hundred and fifty acres in extent, lie at the eastern 
extremity of the city. Besides affording a means of recrea- 
tion and instruction, nurseries are here formed for extending 
agricultural industries by introducing new products. Space 
is lacking to particularize the varied rarities and beauties of 
this splendid collection ; but, in referring to those gems of 
aquatic plants known as the Victoria Regia, I may remind 
the reader that this queen of lilies was first found in British 
Guiana, up the Berbice River, about half a century ago. 



A BRITISH COLONY. 379 

Near Georgetown, to the eastward, is an old, unused canal, 
which, for a distance of about three miles, is completely filled 
with this interesting species of lily. Here you may behold 
it in a state of luxuriance impossible to be obtained artifi- 
cially under glass. Large, spreading leaves, five, feet in 
diameter, with rims four inches high, and immense rose- 
white flowers, two feet in diameter — there, thanks to heat 
and moisture, do honor to the name of Queen Yictoria! 
Georgetown being only seven degrees north of the equator, 
is very warm, but the days are generally freshened by brisk 
sea-breezes, so that, with cooling baths and thin clothing, one 
may keep passably comfortable, and the nights being tem- 
pered by land-breezes, one may always get rest. The climate 
is therefore not unhealthy, save on the occurrence of epidemic 
yellow fever, which is extremely rare. The victims are 
almost exclusively from the foreign population. 

During my stay in Georgetown I made several trips into 
the interior of the colony. One was up the Essequibo and 
the Mazaruni, to what is termed Georgetown Settlement, the 
penal colony of British Guiana, distant about sixty-five miles 
from the capital. Little iron, paddle-wheel steamers, each 
of about one hundred tons burden, ply twice a week, going 
one day and returning the following, up the Essequibo, Deme- 
rara, and Berbice Rivers. These steamers are of very light 
draught, only three to six feet. They carry two classes of 
passengers, and provide meals, but no state-rooms. We had 
only two or three passengers with first-class tickets, but the 
second-class section was crowded with Hindoos, Mussulmans, 
Chinese, negroes, and Creoles, who sang and played on musical 
instruments, and chattered, scrambled, and wrangled through- 
out the whole voyage. We left Georgetown at eight in the 
morning, going down the Demerara River, and around the 
ocean to the westward, to the mouth of the Essequibo. 
Though drawing but little water, we were obliged to keep 
several miles from the coast, which presented nothing but 
low land, with plantation succeeding plantation. The mouth 
of the Essequibo is about fifteen miles in width, and full of 



380 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

islands, some of which are covered with cane fields. The 
river, however, gradually narrowed to five miles, with low, 
level banks covered with forest. The water changes in color 
from a dirty yellow to a brownish black. The banks are 
very thinly settled. "Wood-cutting and stone-quarrying seem 
to be the only commercial advantages proffered. At the 
junction of the Essequibo and Mazaruni, on the south bank, 
is a large village, half concealed by rank vegetation, and 
called Bartica Grove. It is the home of some remarkably 
beautiful palms. From this spot upward the Essequibo is 
crowded with small islands, and soon becomes so filled with 
rapids as to be navigable only by canoes. The penal settle- 
ment occupies a tolerably high point of land on the north 
bank of the Mazaruni River. A short distance beyond it, a 
considerable river, called the Cuyani, empties into the Maza- 
runi. This, like all the rivers of British Guiana, is broken 
by rapids farther up. The penal settlement calls for no 
extended notice. The situation is wholesome, being wind- 
swept, and the forest has been cleared for a long distance 
back. The buildings bear the conventionally grim aspect of 
a prison. A square stone tower has a large clock, which sol- 
emnly strikes the hours and quarters. The officials live 
round about, in comfortable houses, shaded by mango, palm, 
and bamboo trees. There are some three or four hundred 
convicts, the majority being imprisoned for theft, although 
not a few have been convicted of murder and other grave 
crimes, which receive life-sentences. I slept in the cabin of 
the steamer, and returned to Georgetown the following 
morning. 

A still more interesting excursion was that up the Deme- 
rara to Akyma, a distance of nearly a hundred miles from 
the capital. The fare was two dollars, and meals served on 
board were charged extra. The first-class passengers sit in 
great easy cane chairs, upon a little upper deck, level with 
the tops of the paddle-boxes. The Demerara flows nearly 
due north and south, and is probably in the neighborhood of 
two hundred miles in length, though its upper course has 



A BRITISH COLONY. 381 

not been explored by foreigners, and is therefore known 
only to the Indians. They report that it is much broken by 
cataracts. For forty miles the river is of a dirty yellow, 
caused by the clayey soil through which it flows ; but above 
this it changes to a chocolate, and afterward to a brownish 
black, like the Rio Negro of Brazil, and doubtless for a simi- 
lar reason, containing the lees of a vast quantity of decaying 
vegetation. At the mouth of the river are found sharks, and 
higher up alligators and several varieties of fish, some of 
them of a large size, upon which the Indians live, bat which 
are not very pleasing to foreign palates. The Demerara has 
few tributaries, and these are mostly insignificant creeks. It 
contains numerous islands most of which are small. Upon 
one of these, some twenty miles from Georgetown, the Dutch 
held their seat of government prior to its removal to the 
present position. The river has a very winding course 
throughout its length, and its banks are very thinly peopled. 
For the first thirty miles the banks are exceedingly low, and 
the country is astonishingly level, and studded with rich 
sugar estates, together with factories and dwellings. Next 
we pass the first high land, consisting of hills of the finest, 
whitest sand, about one hundred feet in height. From this 
point the banks are covered with forest, thickly edged with 
large reeds. The forest is, of course, remarkably beautiful, 
and especially noteworthy are the enormous buttressed silk- 
cotton trees, the sturdy cabbage-palms, the feathery cocoa- 
nuts, great downy clumps of bamboos, delicately graceful 
assai-palms, dainty ferns, and others whose native names 
would convey little idea to the reader. There are only two 
or three regular stations at which the steamer calls, but she 
is obliged to stop for every boat which may put out from 
shore, and hail her, whether that boat be a little pirogue, 
sharp at each end as a pin, and carrying a single passenger, 
or even a single letter, or a great scow full of passengers, bag- 
gage, and freight. On our upward trip we stopped not fewer 
than thirty-three times, and thus lost more than two hours. 
A large amount of Creole and mulatto travel variegates the 



382 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

river. The pure negroes and Creole negroes live in a state of 
primitive simplicity. Those who are assembled in the little 
villages earn a livelihood by cutting wood, preparing char- 
coal, and growing produce for the market at Georgetown. 
"We passed many of their little boats, propelled sometimes by 
two or four men, with long sweeps, and sometimes by tiny 
and grotesque sails made of old brown tarpaulin. The more 
ignorant and lazy of these Creoles, however, employ them- 
selves in stealing from the others, so that here I had an ex- 
planation of the frequently seen and remarkably civilized 
notices that " all trespassers will be prosecuted to the full ex- 
tent of the law." A few miles from our terminus is a large 
settlement of the Macusi aboriginal Indians. These are 
peaceful, kindly savages, going almost naked, and living in 
little grass huts. A peculiar fashion of theirs is tightly to 
bandage their legs, just below the knee and around the ankle, 
so as to produce an abnormally large calf. They begin this 
practice when very young, as the Chinese do with their feet, 
and the Flathead Indians with their heads, and the result 
is as disproportional and inartistic as the waists of female 
Caucasians. At Akyma, the terminus of the voyage, the 
steamer was secured to a buoy in the middle of the river, 
which had here narrowed to less than three hundred feet. 
Akyma is neither a town nor a village, but simply a few 
scattered huts. Owing to a strong head-tide and our very 
numerous stops, we were eleven hours in making our upward 
journey. I slept on a settee in the cabin, and left at seven 
the following morning, on the return voyage to Georgetown, 
which, as we made fewer stops, we were able to reach at four 
in the afternoon. 

A great development in gold mining is taking place in 
British Guiana. No quartz ledges exist ; the gold is found 
in rivers and creeks by washing. Three thousand people, 
mostly colored and inexperienced, are prospecting in the in- 
terior. In 1885 sixteen thousand dollars in gold was export- 
ed to England, and in 1887 over two million dollars. The 
industry promises to be permanent and lucrative. The busi- 



A BRITISH COLONY. 383 

ness in native woods is large. Seventy-eight specimens have 
been sent to England. Their durability is very great, and a 
feature which adds to their value for furniture is their gen- 
erally bitter and disagreeable taste, which acts as a protec- 
tion against insects. They are not affected by dry rot. They 
vary in color from a light yellow to black. Most of them 
are well adapted to cabinet-making, taking a fine polish. 

I took passage for the capital of Dutch Guiana, about two 
hundred and fifty miles distant, in a trim, clean little steamer 
of about eight hundred tons burden, belonging to the line 
styled in correct Hollandish "Koninklijke West-Indische 
Mail-dienst," or, in plain English, " Royal Dutch West-India 
Mail." Three steamers serve on this route, a monthly one, 
from Amsterdam to Paramaribo. The outward voyage 
is direct and without stop, but, arrived at Paramaribo, the 
homeward route then followed leads to Georgetown, Port- 
of-Spain (Trinidad), Curacao, Porto Cabello, La Guayra, 
Port-of-Spain, Paramaribo, Havre, Amsterdam. First-class 
circular tickets for the whole tour of about two months, with 
the privilege of breaking the journey at any port at which 
the steamer calls, cost three hundred dollars, this amount in- 
cluding board while the steamers are in port, should a pas- 
senger wish to make a continuous excursion. We had a full 
complement of passengers — about twenty of the first class. 

The same sort of low level coast prevails at Surinam as 
at Demerara. The channel, from the light-ship up to the 
mouth of the Surinam River, is marked by huge iron buoys, 
and the sea is of a very thick, yellow appearance. The river, 
at its mouth, is perhaps ten miles in width, and forests line 
both banks. We pass two or three old sugar-factories, and 
two small villages, and then see, directly before us, on a point 
where the Commewine enters the Surinam, the fort of ]STew 
Amsterdam. This is merely a low earthwork, above which 
appear rows of guns of small caliber. The place looked 
neither formidable nor threatening. On the Commewine, 
which flows for some distance to the eastward, are situated 
the finest sugar estates in Dutch Guiana. Steamers run up 



384 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

this river twice a week, returning the following days, just as 
they ascend the Surinam, about a hundred miles, once a week. 
They run on the Surinam to what are the beginnings of the 
gold regions. At present the gold is mostly found by wash- 
ing, though there is also some crushing ; but, on account of a 
lack of capital to pay the heavy expense of importing ma- 
chinery into a section of roadless country where the rivers 
are generally raging torrents, the washing method prevails. 
As the steamer draws near the city, you notice, first, the walls 
of what was once no doubt considered a very powerful fort. 
This now contains the prison and the barracks of some three 
hundred Dutch troops. The tower of the Administration 
Building appears above the trees, and beyond it are the twin 
towers of the Koman Catholic Church. As you slowly move 
on, you catch a glimpse of a pretty park, an extensive mead- 
ow, and the tasteful front of the Government House. Then 
about all you see is a long row of two or three story dwell- 
ings, painted white, and with steep roofs, columned porticoes, 
green jalousies, and many curious little dormer-windows. 
Facing the river- front is a long row of the singular stunted 
and gnarled almond-trees. Paramaribo is situated ten miles 
from the ocean, where the river is about a mile in width. 
The banks opposite the capital are uninhabited, and the con- 
trast of a city on one side and a forest on the other is very 
striking. At the time of my visit there were only four small 
vessels lying at the wharves, and a little Dutch gunboat out 
in the stream. The river is very deep, and our steamer drew 
in directly to one of the wharves. To look up at the prim 
white houses, all of a like order of architecture, one would 
imagine one's self in Holland ; but to see naked mulattoes 
paddling dug-out canoes, transports you at once back to Gui- 
ana and primitive man. Custom-house officers boarded the 
steamer as soon as it was made fast to the wharf, and the in- 
spection that followed was ridiculously exact and detailed. 
My baggage went in a donkey-cart, and I followed on foot 
to a sort of private boarding-house, the nearest approach to a 
hotel which Paramaribo at that time contained. 



CHAPTEK XLIII. 

PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 

The city extends along the river for about two miles, 
"with an average width, of half a mile. It contains a large 
number of canals, as do all Dutch towns at home and Dutch 
colonies abroad. All the canals run toward the river, and 
serve the excellent purpose of drainage. Other noticeable 
features of Paramaribo are absence of trees and sidewalks in 
the streets, and the number and variety of the churches and 
buryiug-grounds. Of the latter, and all within the city 
limits, two are Jewish, two Roman Catholic, two Reformed 
Dutch, two Moravian, one military, and one is for poor 
people. The Jews — both German and Portuguese — are a 
large and powerful political party in Dutch Guiana. The 
city is lighted by paraffiue-lamps. The streets are covered 
with the whitish sand and broken shells of the plain on 
which the city is built, and the glare proves very trying to 
the eyes. ]STo tramways vein the city, though a few hackney- 
coaches are visible. The houses, were it not for the peculiar 
custom of placing their gable-ends, in so many instances, 
toward the streets, might almost pass for those of a New 
England town. They have sharply pitched roofs, generally 
covered with slate, and are usually surmounted with an attic- 
like half-story, with small or large dormer-windows. The 
great green doors — provided with enormous brass knockers, 
as in Holland — have roofed vestibules, which are a grateful 
refuge in hot evenings, for Paramaribo is an exceedingly hot 
place, with little breeze and many mosquitoes. The city is 
well policed, and has several steam fire-engines, which, in 

25 



386 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

case of fire, draw water from one of the numerous canals. 
The streets, early in the morning, are always interesting, be- 
cause of the great crowds of natives going to or returning 
from market. The Creole men dress in complete suits of 
white, as in China, but the women are always gayly dressed, 
and therefore attract special attention. They wear huge stiff- 
skirted gowns, and sacks low at the neck and cut very loose 
at the lower edge, with brilliant handkerchiefs so tied about 
the head as to lie broadly on top and allow of protrusive ends 
behind. The skirts are made very stiff with starch. Some- 
times the entire suit, including head-gear, will be of the same 
pattern, more often each piece will be different ; but you al- 
ways notice the happy combination of colors, in which par- 
ticular these people display very good taste. A peculiar and 
very unseemly fashion, however, is that of pulling a part of 
the dress up at the waist, and confining it there by a hand- 
kerchief, the upper portion being also sometimes improvised 
as a huge pocket. This naturally makes an ugly bulge, and 
throws the figure out of proportion. It spoils an otherwise 
piquant and picturesque costume. These loose jackets, 
stretched out behind, and great " beer-barrel " dresses, almost 
touching the ground, give the figures a curiously dumpy ap- 
pearance, like those of Hindoo and Egyptian women. Some- 
times shoes are worn, but more often they go barefooted. 
Their carriage, however, is easy and graceful, and, as they 
sail past in jaunty fashion, you perceive the younger ones are 
also very pretty, having scarcely any of the negro or Indian 
element about their features, save a trace of the color. You 
see these women, as those of Brazil, walking gracefully along, 
and nearly always bearing something, without any effort or 
attention, upon their heads — now a newspaper or an umbrel- 
la, again a great tray of dishes or a three- gallon jar of water. 
In color they are a light chocolate, with smooth, fine-grained 
skins. Their features are generally regular, and their hair, 
eyes, and teeth are all that the most finical could desire. 
This much for the middle class women. Those of the upper 
classes are frequently educated in Europe, and are as intelli- 




A Paramaribo Creole. 



PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. ' 387 

gent as they are pretty and vivacious. I attended a ball at 
Government House, where I found these ladies quite equal 
to their northern sisters in grace, in manner, in accomplish- 
ments, and in dress. The heat is so intense in Paramaribo 
that gentlemen, when attending to business, generally dress 
in white duck ; but at home they are apt to pass most of the 
day simply in pyjamas, even coming to table and receiving 
visitors in such scant garb. The late nights and early morn- 
ings are, however, apt to be cool, and, were it not for this, a 
European or American could hardly keep his health there. 
The ice that is used is brought from the United States, and 
is sold at two cents per pound. It is, of course, a highly 
valued luxury. 

In the eastern part of the city, on the side next the river, 
just beyond the little fort, is a large level meadow fringed 
with cocoa palms, with a pretty little private park on its east- 
ern border. On the northern is the handsome Government 
House, and on the west are the Stadt-House, the Court- House, 
and the office of the Government Secretary, all of quaint old 
Dutch architecture. In the center of this meadow a military 
band performs on certain afternoons of the week. Govern- 
ment House is of wood, two stories in height, with graceful 
columns and arches, and the Netherlands coat-of-arms, carved 
in wood and highly colored, glaring from the topmost pedi- 
ment. A broad road goes past, lined with fine old tamarind- 
trees, whereof the gnarled roots, half above ground, project 
twenty feet from their trunks, and twist like huge serpents. 
Behind the Government House is a large and beautiful gar- 
den, to which the public are freely admitted. The Governor 
is appointed by the Crown of Holland, and serves six years. 
He is associated in his duties with a Colonial Council. The 
population of Paramaribo is put down at twenty-five thou- 
sand, and of the whole colony at seventy thousand. The pri- 
vate park to which I have above referred contains some very 
interesting palms, one of the most striking and beautiful spe- 
cies being called the moriche palm. This park is much re- 
sorted to by the people for its beer-garden and restaurant, its 



388 AROUND AND ABOUT 80UTE AMERICA. 

open-air ball-room, bowling-alley, and shooting-gallery. Balls 
are occasionally given on Sunday evenings, to which a mem- 
bership ticket or the introduction of a member admits you. 
Dance- music is furnished by the military band, and evening 
dress is not required. Full dress is, however, always obliga- 
tory at balls given at Government House. Other recreation 
is afforded by two small circulating libraries. Three news- 
papers — one tri-weekly and two bi-weekly— are published in 
Paramaribo. The solitary club contains reading, billiard, and 
smoking rooms ; and at the small theatre amateur perform- 
ances are occasionally given during the cooler part of the 
year. At infrequent intervals a strolling company of profes- 
sionals amuses the easy-going citizens. 

I took the French mail-steamer — which comes once a 
month from Fort de France, Martinique, where it connects 
with a large steamer of the same line from Saint Nazaire, 
France — to Cayenne, my next point of call. She is a com- 
fortable vessel, of fifteen hundred tons burden, and was quite 
full of passengers. The following morning we halted just 
long enough to leave the mail at the small and rather bare 
islands of Salut, on one of which is a French penal settle- 
ment. We had the previous afternoon passed the mouth of 
the Maroni River, upon which are several other penal settle- 
ments. All along the French Guiana coast, in the neighbor- 
hood of Cayenne, are clusters of small islands, most of them 
wooded, and many of them inhabited. About ten miles from 
Cayenne is a lighthouse on a small rock, over nearly all of 
which the sea washes. From here the Guiana coast appears, 
for the most part low and covered with dense forest, though 
there are several pretty hillocks and, east of the city of Ca- 
yenne, several ranges of hills, or mountains, as they are styled 
here. We steam slowly through a great swell of thick, mud- 
dy water. The houses of the city of Cayenne, owing to the 
vegetation, appear indistinctly, with the exception of the great 
yellowish- white, three-story barracks, and the Roman Catho- 
lic church. As we approach, a slight eminence appears at the 
extreme western side, where is an old fort, at present dis- 



PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 389 

mantled and used as a signal-station. We arrive in the early 
morning, and the island is covered with mist, through which 
the palms loom forth in spectral manner. To the left of the 
fort we saw a great grove of lofty cabbage-palms, and be- 
yond, and in nearly the center of the city, the. roof and 
steeple of the largest church in Cayenne. Two or three 
small rivers, emptying into the sea by the side of the city, 
form a broad estuary, where lies the shipping. At this point 
we pass a low earthwork, mounting a few guns ; next, a short 
distance beyond, another and similar one, a little higher up ; 
then the great barracks, and now we anchor near a French 
man-of-war, three or four merchant-ships, and a few small 
ships and lighters. 

I land on a long, narrow, stone jetty, upon which are 
congregated several hundred of the inhabitants, some to re- 
ceive their friends, but more loitering about from mere curi- 
osity ; for the arrival of the monthly French mail is a great 
day for the Cayennese. Passing an open space, where some 
huge mango-trees stand, I walk along a very dusty road of 
crushed bricks, past a magasin general, and on to the custom- 
house, where the examination is very cursory. I then pass 
around the base of the fort, leaving the Treasury on the left, 
and the large buildings of the direction du port upon the 
right, and enter the Rue du Fort, which is one of the princi- 
pal business streets of Cayenne. I have only to go a short 
distance, to obtain a room in a house on one side of this 
street, while I arrange to take my meals at a pension upon 
the opposite side. With the exception of the older part, in 
the immediate neighborhood of the hill of the fortress, Ca- 
yenne is laid out at right angles, and mostly in oblong blocks. 
It lies upon a level plain, the greater part of which is but 
fifteen feet above the ocean. The houses are two stories in 
height, and with their projecting roofs, balconies, and dormer- 
windows, make a very pretty sight. The dwellings of the best 
class are of stuccoed brick — colored pink, white, or yellow. 
Sidewalks are few. The street-cleaning brigade consists of 
vultures, which perform a like service for so many tropical 



390 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

towns. In Cayenne these uncouth and uncanny black scav- 
engers congregate and rest in the tops of a great palm-grove. 
The city is lighted by lamps of paraffine-oil. A few carriages 
are to be obtained by sending word far in advance of the 
time required. The streets are full of people all day, save 
between the hours of eleven and two, when business is sus- 
pended, the shops are closed, and the people devote them- 
selves to breakfast and the siesta. The dress of the Creole 
women, though not so quaint as that of the corresponding 
class — the middle class — in Dutch Guiana, is not inferior to 
it in the variety and brilliancy of color. Their gowns are 
always much too long for them, and are constantly being 
lifted in such a reckless manner as to expose not only the 
little feet in high-heeled French shoes, but also entrancing 
sections of neatly turned and naked legs. The higher classes, 
however, appear in white stockings ; the lower always with 
bare feet. A large French garrison — one eighth of the entire 
population — is stationed at Cayenne ; and jaunty soldiers, in 
white trousers, blue coats, yellow epaulets, and white pith 
hats, are always to be seen about the streets. The city stands 
on an island, which may be circumnavigated by very small 
steamers and native boats. It is not supplied with roads, 
and contains numerous small plantations. A good general 
view may be had from the walls of the old fort. The appear- 
ance of the hills to the eastward is exceedingly pretty. From 
here you may also see the lighthouse on the rock, styled the 
Enfant Perdu, away to the north ; and the range of the Kaw 
Mountains to the southeast. Access to the far interior is 
quite difficult. The rivers are mostly small and broken by 
rapids and cataracts. Gold has been found in hill-ranges 
similar to the other Guianas, and, though previously it has 
only been worked by washing, now companies are being 
formed and crushing machinery introduced, so that mining 
in earnest, regular, scientific manner may commence. I saw 
in Cayenne some exceedingly rich specimens of gold quartz, 
brought from a hundred miles or so up-country. 

One of the most interesting sights is the great grove of 




m 



':\ v 



4, 



A Cayenne Creole. 



PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 391 

palm-trees, Place des Palmistes, or " Cabbage-palm Square," 
as it is locally termed. I was never tired of walking through 
the giant aisles, or admiring them from a distance, whence 
the j resemble half a dozen of the great palm avenues in the 
Botanical Gardens of Bio de Janeiro massed together. The 
trees have, of course, been planted in this order, most of 
them more than a century ago. When one of them dies — 
which is very seldom — its spot is at once replaced by another, 
though necessarily a smaller one. These splendid palms are 
about five hundred in number, with an average height of 
eighty feet. They are placed in eight rows, about twenty 
feet apart, and perhaps the same distance from each other in 
the rows. They are thus sufficiently near to produce the 
effect of a stately Titanic hall, with great gray pillars, straight 
as arrows, supporting a roof of the glossiest of beautiful verd- 
ure. At one corner of this magnificent square stands that 
great botanical curiosity, a double palm-tree, which the citi- 
zens appreciate so highly that they always take a stranger the 
first thing to see it. It is still a young tree, though nearly as 
tall as the others, and is in perfect health. The trunk 
branches about twenty feet from the ground, and thence two 
trunks run upward until they terminate in two perfect-shaped 
leafy crowns. At one corner of Cabbage-palm Square are 
the buildings of the u gendarmerie," an important and well- 
disciplined service in Cayenne. Near by are the jail, a large 
military hospital, and what is termed the college — a sort of 
high school for Creole citizens. Occupying an entire block, 
on another side of the same square, are the " Intendance " or 
commissariat, the large artillery " Caserne " or barracks, and 
the Government printing-office, which, besides an official 
newspaper published once a week, issues a large number of 
valuable pamphlets relating to the colony, including an " An- 
nuaire" of some three hundred and fifty octavo pages. In 
front of the latter is the Place d'Armes, a neatly grassed 
parade-ground, surrounded by rows of great mango-trees. 
Directly opposite the artillery barracks are the buildings of 
the " Hotel du Gouvernement " and the " Mairie " or town- 



392 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

hall. Government House is a great square two-and-a-half- 
story edifice, of no architectural merit, though of a character 
well adapted to the climate. Set apart for the Governor's 
use, however, is a very pretty little chalet, situated near the 
coast, about six miles east of the city. A semicircular level 
spot has been dug from the side of a hill, from which the 
timber has been cleared for a little distance, and upon this a 
pretty brick house, of a single story, with broad verandas, 
has been erected upon brick pillars eight or ten feet in 
height. In front of the house are flower-beds and a row of 
cabbage-palms. Steps lead directly down to the rocky beach. 
The great muddy sea stretches before you, studded with 
three or four thickly wooded islands. A strong, cool trade- 
wind comes in from the southeast. A path runs up the hill 
to a point where a summer-house has been erected. A sema- 
phore signals to that at Cayenne. The semaphore at the 
latter place may be distinctly seen, between the hills and 
over the woods, away to the west, though but little else in 
the city appears, save the tops of the lofty palmistes. In re- 
turning from the Governor's seaside retreat, you may, if you 
like, take a look at one of the many convict establishments 
of the colony — of only the exterior, however, for it is not 
permitted the stranger to enter. Here, upon the islands of 
Salut, and in the settlement on the banks of the Maroni 
River, is said to be a total of fifteen thousand prisoners. 
These are kept in confinement. About a thousand additional 
convicts are allowed at large, but are not permitted to leave 
the colony. A 

The same steamer which brought me to Cayenne brought 
also a general of the French army, who had been sent out 
from France to inspect the troops stationed here. On the 
late afternoon of the day upon which we arrived a review 
and a brief inspection were held. But first came a levee at 
the Government House, attended by all the officers of the 
post. A regiment of infantry, a small battery of artillery, a 
handful of cavalry, half a dozen buglers, and a company of 
gendarmerie, all commanded by a colonel, are located at Ca- 



PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 393 

yenne. No military band makes music, which, is to be regret- 
ted, since, to say the least, a drum-major is a desirable adjunct 
to a parade. The troops were drawn up in line in the street 
which passes by the great square of cabbage-palms. Then 
the newly arrived general, in full uniform, his breast a blaze 
of stars, crosses, and medals, and accompanied by a brilliant 
staff, walked slowly down the ranks and returned at the rear. 
The troops then formed into company front, and passed in 
review before the general and staff, who stood under the 
giant palms. I am not, of course, describing anything new 
in the matter of a review, but I wish to emphasize the extraor- 
dinary circumstances and associations of its occurrence. Fancy 
the pageant ! The hour was near sunset, with its peculiar 
tropical glow. Above our heads was the green sea of verd- 
ure. The red road, the brilliant and varied uniforms of the 
troops, the great crowds of Creoles and people of every tint 
from white to black looking on, the spectacle of the veteran 
general with his staff of young officers, the stirring march- 
music of the buglers, the clatter of the artillery, the rush of 
the cavalry, and all about, seen through the columns of the 
great natural temple, the pink, yellow, and white walls, and 
the quaint balconies, windows, and roofs of the city — such a 
scene was certainly a remarkable combination of the works 
of man and of nature. 

From Cayenne, once more turning my head to the north, 
I went in the French mail-steamer to Port-of -Spain, Trinidad, 
thence to take a steamboat running up the Orinoco River. 
We stopped at Paramaribo for seven hours and at George- 
town for ten hours, and then headed toward the northwest. 
In the afternoon of the next day we were crossing the great 
delta of the Orinoco, the water having changed from a light 
green almost to a black, and in the evening the large British 
Island of Trinidad was sighted. Shortly after we entered 
the Gulf of Paria — a circular body of water between Trini- 
dad and the mainland of Yenezuela — by the comparatively 
narrow channel on the south called the Serpent's Mouth ; 
that on the north is styled the Dragon's Mouth. The Isl- 



391 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and of Trinidad runs to three quite sharp points, the two 
western ones being actually peninsulas. In the bight of the 
southwestern point is the town of San Fernando, and in a 
similar bight of the northwestern point is the capital of the 
island, Port- of -Spain. Before reaching San Fernando, we 
pass Point La Brea, near which is a submarine spring of 
petroleum, and about a mile from which, on the island, is 
the famous Pitch Lake. Between this and the hills of the 
interior liquid asphaltum is found, and at two other spots 
near the coast the map has marked upon it the presence of 
both asphaltum and asphaltic oil. Then, again, about ten 
miles east of San Fernando, in the interior, these names ap- 
pear once more, together with springs of petroleum ; while 
directly south of them, and near the southern coast, I read 
the words " asphaltic cones." I do not find the presence of 
asphaltum indicated anywhere else upon the island, but no- 
tice some thermal springs a short distance north of San Fer- 
nando. 

We anchored about a mile from Port-of -Spain. The isl- 
and stretched away, quite smooth and level, to the eastward. 
To the north, back of the city, were ranges of low hills, 
cleared in parts below, but tree-covered above. A large field 
to the westward was planted with sugar-cane. Still farther 
was a group of islands, separating the Gulf of Paria from the 
Caribbean Sea. Again, still farther to the west, was the 
northeastern extremity of the Spanish Main, the mountains 
of Yenezuela rising grandly from the sea-coast. We had 
passed a German man-of-war, and had anchored amid a 
dozen ships and two or three steamers. The city lies upon a 
gently inclined plain, but little above the surface of the gulf, 
at its edge, and, being filled with trees, does not appear to 
much advantage from the steamer's deck. Landing, and 
having no trouble or delay in the custom-house, I enter a 
large open space called the South Quay. Here is the rail- 
way-station, whence daily trains are run to San Fernando, 
thirty miles distant. I pass great oblong blocks of ware- 
houses, and enter a large square, or boulevard more properly, 



PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 395 

full of splendid old trees, and with, a fountain at one end 
and a handsome Catholic church at the other. The street 
on the north side contains the shipping-offices, and many of 
the largest wholesale and retail stores. On the south side 
the names of hotels and clubs indicate the presence of many 
Yenezuelans, and an extensive business with their country. 
The sidewalks of this boulevard extend in the form of arcades 
under the lower stories of the houses. I next pass the Treas- 
ury building, and soon find, opposite the post-office, a new 
and very good hotel. 



CHAPTER XLIY. 

TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. 

Port-of-Spain reminded me in many particulars of George- 
town, Demerara — naturally, too, since both are cities of Brit- 
ish colonies. It is laid out at right angles, in large oblong 
blocks. The streets are macadamized, and have gutters of 
cut stone, in which, in most of the streets extending north 
and south, is running water. There are always sidewalks, 
sometimes paved, sometimes " metaled," sometimes covered 
with asphalt blocks. The houses are built of brick, wood, or 
iron, and roofed with slate, iron, tiles, or shingles. They range 
from one to three stories in height. In the older parts of 
the city you see few trees, but in the northern parts, where 
the residences of the better class are situated, the profusion 
of vegetation and flowers is very remarkable. Port-of-Spain 
is well provided with hospitals and asylums of all kinds. 
These are constructed strictly for their purposes, rather than 
for any particular architectural effect, and the same might be 
said of all the public buildings, most of which are built solid- 
ly of stone or brick. In the southern center of the city is a 
large square— full of fine trees, and containing a neat bronze 
fountain — upon the western side of which are several of the 
more important public buildings, such as the Government 
House, Court-IIouse, Town Hall, police barracks, and new 
public offices. Two lines of tram-cars run, and a good idea 
of the city may be obtained by riding to the terminus of one 
of these lines, and then walking a few blocks and taking the 
other line back. You would thus see, in the northern part 
of the city, what is termed the Savanna, or Queen's Park, a 




A Big Tree in a Public Square, Port-of-Spain. 



TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. 397 

great open field of smooth grass which extends quite away to 
the base of the hills. It contains many large and splendid 
old trees, and around its edges a race-course and grand stand. 
Herds of feeding cattle give a pleasing aspect to the Savan- 
na. Beyond it are a very fine botanical garden, and the 
Governor's palace. The botanical garden is especially inter- 
esting and worthy of a visit from the stranger. Besides 
many specimens of the enormous trees peculiar to the island 
— or, more exactly, to the tropics hereabout — are splendid 
flowers, shrubs, aquatic plants, also fountains and neatly kept 
paths. On the way back to the hotel you will notice the 
plain brick building of Queen's College, standing in a large 
inclosure. This is intended for boys under the age of twen- 
ty-one. The curriculum comprises the English, French, and 
Spanish languages, classics, mathematics, and chemistry. It 
is distinctly stated that no religious instruction is given in 
the college. The charge for tuition is only forty-five dollars 
per annum. There is a public library of about twelve thousand 
volumes, and connected with it a reading-room containing a 
good selection of English periodicals and newspapers. Sev- 
eral tri-weeklies appear, but no daily newspapers as at George- 
town. Iron pillar post-office boxes abound in the streets, and 
are emptied thrice daily. 

I, of course, visited that natural phenomenon, the famous 
Pitch Lake of La Brea, about forty miles south from Port-of- 
Spain. A commodious passenger-steamer runs there two or 
three times per week. Such of the island as may be seen on 
the first part of the journey is low and swampy, then succeeds 
higher ground, covered with large sugar-cane plantations, 
with hills and woods in the distant background. Our first 
stop is at San Fernando, the second town of the island, and 
very curiously situated at the base and upon the flanks of a 
solitary hill rising up from the shore. So little available 
space does there seem to be, that great slices have been cut 
from the hill in order to find standing-room for the houses. 
Near the landing are the railway-station and several large 
warehouses, but little of the town is seen from here, owing 



398 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

to the dense vegetation. We go on for an hour more, and 
then drop anchor off the point of La Brea, where most of the 
remaining passengers go ashore in small boats, which put out 
to the steamer. The latter goes on to a village called Cedros, 
two hours more, and then returns to La Brea, on her journey 
back to Port-of-Spain, so that we curiosity-seekers have four 
or five hours in which to visit and inspect the Pitch Lake. 
The country hereabout is covered with forest, wild sugar- 
cane, and scrub. Upon the point of La Brea are a small vil- 
lage and several " boiling-down " factories. All the inhabit- 
ants of the village are employed in cutting and bringing the 
asphalt from the lake, or in melting it and packing it in bar- 
rels to transport to New York and Paris, and, in fact, all over 
the world. 

We land upon a beach covered with asphalt, looking like 
some great, smooth, dark rock. The shore all along is piled 
with great heaps of asphalt blocks. A strong but not un- 
pleasant smell of pitch is in the air. The huts and shops are 
very miserable looking. They stand raised upon posts of 
brick or stone, to insure better sanitary results. A road, 
twenty-five feet in width, with gutters at each side, and the 
whole made of bitumen blocks, which have, in process of 
time, become one solid, smooth mass, runs up to the lake, 
about one mile distant. The small, two-wheeled mule-carts, 
which are employed to bring the asphalt down, are also utilized 
to carry people up. Sometimes there is an extra animal — 
probably a horse — attached, tandem fashion, which, with the 
visitors sitting in the carts on ordinary chairs, makes a; curious 
picture. Guides are taken to indicate points of special inter- 
est, and explain matters generally. The road makes a gradual 
though continued rise to the lake, which does not lie in a 
great depression, but near the top of the ridge, with two 
sides sloping away, and two a little higher than the lake. 
The Pitch Lake is a great bottomless bed of asphaltum, half 
a mile in diameter, hard and cold on its borders, but soft and 
hot toward the middle. Its shores are fringed with palms, 
scrub, and small trees, and its surface is studded with several 



TRINIDAD AND UP TEE ORINOCO. 399 

wooded islands. At first it looks like any woodland lake, 
and not immediately do you realize that it is pitch and not 
water. But the illusion is soon dispelled by the color and 
consistency of the fluid. You see before you great masses of 
rather smooth asphalt, which are everywhere separated by 
streams of water, some a foot wide, some a hundred feet. 
In the larger water-courses are small fish, which must be very 
warm-blooded creatures, and do not object to a little sulphur 
and bitumen. In examining these water-basins, some of them 
a few inches in depth, and others many feet, I saw that they 
were fissures produced by the pitch oozing from different 
points, and therefore failing to make a compact mass. The 
asphalt is black and brown, hard and brittle, and full of longi- 
tudinal air-holes. You may, however, walk about the sur- 
face, for it is nearly everywhere strong enough to bear your 
weight. The asphalt is cut out with pick-axes in square 
blocks, and may be kneaded into balls like putty. It con- 
tains, at first, a strong smell, as of coal-gas, but neither soils 
the hands, nor, strange to relate, leaves any odor. The ap- 
pearance of the bitumen everywhere reminded me of lava- 
flows such as I have seen on Mount Etna, Sicily, and Kilau- 
ea, Hawaiian Islands. A hole dug by the men one day is 
pretty apt to be filled up from below and the sides, by the 
following day. In about the center of the lake the asphalt 
may be seen boiling and mixed with steam and sulphur, 
which gives the water very pretty colors. Little pitch vol- 
canoes thrust themselves up about two feet high, in whose 
centers, about six inches or so in diameter, the pitch is in a fluid 
state, sometimes welling up, sometimes overflowing. The 
surface in the neighborhood is like treacle, and is too soft to 
be walked upon. Slight explosions of gas are continually 
taking place, accompanied by noxious vapors rising from the 
seething mass. The Pitch Lake belongs to the Government, 
and is leased to various companies. At the time of my visit 
two ships were loading the asphalt in the roadstead of La 
Brea. I reached Port-of- Spain in the evening, having made 
the round trip in about twelve hours. 



400 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Twice a month a line of steamers under the Venezuelan 
flag, though owned and managed by Americans, runs a ves- 
sel between Port-of-Spain and Bolivar, a town three hun- 
dred and sixty miles up the Orinoco River. These boats 
are of a similar model to those in use upon the Hudson River 
and Long Island Sound. They have two decks, paddle- 
wheels, draw but eight feet of water, and range from three 
to six hundred tons burden. Then there are other steamers, 
plying on the upper Orinoco, which have stern-wheels, like our 
Mississippi River boats. Though outwardly my steamer was 
like those of North America, inside the arrangement was 
very different. The saloons were exceedingly bare, being 
furnished only with plain deal tables and benches, and with 
painted canvas instead of carpets upon the deck. The state- 
rooms had the advantage of two doors, an outer and an inner 
one, and a very large window, thus giving free access to the 
air. Forward, on the main-deck, were second-class passen- 
gers, and aft, cattle and merchandise. The second-class 
passengers sleep in hammocks, as indeed do many of those of 
the first class. The meals are varied and plentiful in char- 
acter. The captain and chief engineer were Americans. 
The steamer and machinery were built at Wilmington, Del. 
This company, called the " Orinoco Steamship Line," receives 
no subsidy, and is virtually a monopoly. The passenger- 
fares and tariff for freight are exceedingly high. Thus, the 
voyage from Port-of-Spain to Bolivar, a distance requiring but 
thirty-six hours to cover, costs, for a first-class ticket, twenty 
dollars in gold. There is a line of steamers which sends one 
about every six weeks direct from New York to Bolivar. 
From Bolivar you may go in the rainy season, or during 
nearly half the year, up the Orinoco and Apure to Nutrias, a 
total distance of about a thousand miles from the mouth of 
the great river. The Orinoco is itself put down in the gazet- 
teers as twelve hundred miles in length. 

On leaving Port-of-Spain we headed at once toward the 
southwest and the Serpent's Mouth, out of which we safely 
passed and entered that branch, or rather that one of the 




A Hindoo Coolie, Port-of-Spain. 



TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. 401 

many great mouths of the Orinoco, styled the Macareo River, 
which was at first about half a mile in width, its shores 
densely covered with aquatic plants and forests. Running 
nearly parallel to this river, is another called the Cascuina. 
Both are navigable for steamers drawing less than ten feet ; 
those requiring deeper water than this must use the southern 
and main branch of the Orinoco. This one is naturally 
always preferred by ships. The water of the river is a thick 
yellow, and the current is as swift as four or five miles an 
hour. As we went on all day, the Macareo narrowed to 
about one hundred feet, but was very deep. The banks 
appeared quite uninhabited, until we reached the Orinoco 
proper. First we passed two very small Indian villages. 
The houses consisted merely of grass roofs and wooden pil- 
lars, being quite open on all sides, and disclosing numbers of 
hammocks each containing a nearly nude Indian. Near by 
were fields of mandioc and bananas. On the beach small 
pirogues were drawn up. At one place some of the boys 
paddled out to us, and in wanton sport threw on board many 
sticks of sugar-cane. These Indians had stout, strong bodies, 
and broad and good-natured physiognomies, with their hair 
" banged " across the forehead and left long at the sides. 

In its vast size, and large and numerous islands, the Ori- 
noco is not unlike the Amazon, but the banks differ from the 
Amazon's chiefly in their greater profusion of lianas, the for- 
ests being not only decked but half covered with them. 
After the Indian villages, we passed, upon the Macareo, long 
lines of widely separated mud huts, belonging to negroes and 
low-class Creoles. All these people wore clothes, had a vari- 
ety of cooking-utensils, and better dwellings than the pure 
Indians. Near where the Macareo enters the main branch 
of the Orinoco is a small town called Barrancas — simply two 
short streets of dilapidated mud huts. We stopped only ten 
minutes to send our boat ashore with the mail, and to bring 
on board two or three passengers. Some very large islands 
invite the view hereabout, and the distant ranges of the Ima- 
taca Mountains, ridge behind ridge, look blue and pictur- 

26 



402 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

esque. The current of the Orinoco does not carry down the 
great number of grassy islands and tree-trunks that one sees 
always on the Amazon. We stopped again, at night, at a 
town called Las Tablas, situated near the Caroni River up 
which, or rather in whose neighborhood, some hundred odd 
miles south of the Orinoco, are the rich quartz-gold-bearing 
reefs of Venezuela. The gold from this region is shipped 
from Las Tablas, and gives the little town, which is stretched 
along the river-banks, an importance that it certainly would 
not otherwise possess. The name of the mine is El Callao ; 
the ore has averaged about eighteen dollars per ton, and the 
total amount of gold remitted in a year has been sixty thou- 
sand ounces, valued at about one million dollars. The upper 
levels are, however, becoming exhausted, and hereafter deeper 
mining will be undertaken. We remained at Las Tablas, 
but a short quarter of an hour, and pushed on for Bolivar. 
A fine spectacle at night were the many great prairie tires, 
the whole sky being aglow with them. A certain fire would 
suddenly appear, tearing along at a terrific rate, with a blind- 
ing glare and long trail of smoke recalling a night express- 
train a thousand times magnified. The Venezuelans are 
accustomed to burn their savannas once a year. We had 
already left the regions of the pristine wilderness, and were 
now among the great savannas, or natural meadows of the 
central plains of Venezuela. The delta is the only thickly 
wooded part of the Orinoco — the upper portion of the river 
being bounded by the llanos, or great grassy and almost tree- 
less plains. 

On the third day after leaving Port- of -Spain we reached 
Bolivar. The blue, white, and yellow walls and red roofs of the 
houses, running in terraces upon a low, dome-shaped hill, and 
shining under the morning sun, were a very pretty sight. 
The city stands upon the southern side or right bank of the 
river. Opposite, and connected by a miniature ferry-boat, is 
a small village called Soledad. Two buildings stood promi- 
nently forth upon the top of the city hill, the hospital and 
the newly completed theatre, while the tower of the cathedral 



TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. 403 

was but a little lower down. The banks are smooth and high 
above the river, especially in the dry season, when the Ori- 
noco falls some thirty feet. In the stream were anchored 
four or five steamers, mostly small and of light draught, with 
stern-wheels, for up-river service. There were also the New 
York steamer, one from La Guayra, the principal port of Ven- 
ezuela in the Caribbean, and four or five small ships. The 
lower Orinoco appeared, as we came up, to be as bare of sailing- 
vessels and canoes as its banks were bare of villages. The river 
at Bolivar is perhaps half a mile in width. On the first street, 
that facing the river, are the shipping-offices, the custom- 
house, the wholesale warehouses, many of the finest stores, 
and the best hotels. Water is pumped from the Orinoco and 
forced into mains which supply the city. The streets, though 
paved, are grass-grown, and so steep that no carriages can be 
used, and they are even dangerous for saddle-horses. So 
much of a climb is it from the water's edge to the top of the 
hill, that I was not surprised, though much amused, to find 
near the theatre a drinking-shop called " El Respiroso " (an- 
fflice, a breathing-spot). A pretty little park contains a bronze 
statue of Bolivar, raised on a high marble pedestal. It is, of 
course, in honor of the great Yenezuelan patriot that the city 
has been named. There is another good statue in Bolivar, or, 
rather, near it. In ascending the Orinoco you may see, still 
a long way off, with marine glasses, a statue reared upon a 
tall, slender spire, inland, behind the city, to the south. You 
naturally marvel at its singular position, and none the less 
so upon walking out to it. Here you find by the side of the 
road, in a little open space on one flank of which is a line of 
mud hovels, a good marble bust of General Guzman Blanco, 
the Yenezuelan patriot and President, raised about fifty feet 
from the ground, upon a pedestal of brick and stucco. The 
four sides of the substructure contain marble tablets, of not 
very good workmanship. The attitude and carving of the 
semi-statue (for it is more than a bust, showing to the waist) 
are very creditable. Owing to a low intervening hill, this 
figure can not be seen from the city. The explanation given 



404 AROUND AXD ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

for such a peculiar position is, that it is placed in a district 
named after the "Illustrious American Regenerator." It 
ought, however, to be placed either upon the summit of the 
city hill, in the open square near the theatre, or else some- 
where upon the river embankment. I learned that, after 
having stood fourteen years in its present place, it was about 
to be removed to the front of the custom-house, a very good 
and appropriate location. 

In returning to Port-of-Spain, we had a full list of first- 
class passengers, among them a lot of ladies, most of whom, 
as noticed also upon the Amazon steamers, appeared to be 
too shy to come to the table, and kept their rooms the greater 
part of the voyage, although there was no motion calculated 
to produce any degree of sea-sickness. The male passengers 
spent their time in gambling in the forward cabin, some- 
times the stakes being in silver, and occasionally in large 
gold pieces. The favorite game appeared to be vingt-et-vn. 
This gambling continued all night, and greatly annoyed such 
passengers as had rooms near the forward cabin. Although 
the inevitable bar was on board, fortunately there were not 
many libations. The river water is used for thirst-quench- 
ing purposes. It is filtered through great basins of a very 
coarse sort of stone, and falls, quite clear, into a large earth- 
enware jar. In going down the river we saw many birds — 
herons, hawks, geese, and several others of which I do not 
know the names. "We passed alligators on sand-banks, and a 
great water-hog swimming the river. We did not find the 
ocean rough in crossing to the Gulf of Paria, and reached 
Port-of-Spain after a pleasant passage. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR. 

A few days later I left for La Guayra, Venezuela, in a 
steamer of about two thousand tons burden and belonging to 
the " West India and Pacific Steamship Company," of Liver- 
pool, which sends ont two steamers per month. Though 
quite dark, we steamed safely through the Dragon's Mouth, 
the navigable channel being about a mile in width, and early 
on the following morning we passed the small and low Testi- 
gos Islands to the north, with the large Island of Margarita 
in sight upon the left, or toward the south. Margarita, with 
its sharply pinnacled hills and its irregular coast-lines, looked 
extremely picturesque. It is for the most part bare of vege- 
tation and thinly inhabited. A small village on its southern 
coast is, however, the center of an extensive fishing industry. 
Toward night we passed quite near the very much smaller 
Island of Tortuga, and going on deck at daylight saw before 
us the northern coast of Venezuela, a long line of lofty hills 
rising steeply from the water. Their crest was comparative- 
ly uniform, but their flanks were much diversified. The 
hills lower down were of a rocky character, reddish brown 
and gray, covered with huge cacti. Higher up they were 
clothed with bright-green scrub, and then, on to their tops, 
with dwarfish trees. We anchored in the open roadstead. 
The shore here makes nearly half a circle, so there is consid- 
erable protection for shipping, though not enough ; and a 
stone mole is in progress of construction, which will trans- 
form the roadstead into a harbor. A tremendous big swell 
generally rolls into the roadstead of La Guayra — I know of 



406 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

but two worse anywhere : Mollendo in southern Peru, and 
Vera Cruz in Mexico — and it is frequently so heavy that for 
days together no freight can be landed or embarked, and 
passengers have to be hoisted on board the steamers by means 
of chairs and ropes. To remedy this state of affairs, an Eng- 
lish company is now engaged in building a breakwater of 
solid cement, intended to be about three quarters of a mile 
in length, which shall make a quiet haven- — inclosing an area 
of about sixty acres — for vessels of the heaviest draught. 
The cost of this structure, as ordered by the Government, is 
to be three million dollars, and the time to be consumed in 
its erection five years. At present it extends but about two 
hundred feet from the shore, and apparently is being washed 
away as rapidly as it is constructed. The hills back of La 
Gnayra ar3 so steep that the town has the odd appearance 
of being built upon the sides of a precipice. The scene, how- 
ever, is always picturesque and interesting, as viewed from 
a distance out at sea. In the early morning, or late evening, 
the upper hills look very soft and green, and the colors of 
the houses, though evident, are much toned down. No 
clouds cover the hills, and their sharp lines stand out bravely 
against a pure blue sky. All is very different in the middle 
of the day. Then the fierce heat and bright light bring the 
town out in its brightest colors, the lower parts of the hills 
look parched, rough, and glowing with red and brown tints, 
the summits of the range are covered with layers of fleecy 
clouds, and the sea and surf glisten and shine most radiantly. 
Three miles to the eastward of La Guayra is the little village 
of Macuto, reached from the town by a narrow-gauge rail- 
way. About a mile to the westward is the village of Mai- 
quetia, standing in a beautiful grove of palms. Both of these 
environs are used as residences by merchants doing business 
in La Guayra. Through Macuto runs a brawling little river 
from the hills, which rise almost perpendicularly behind it. 
It possesses also a nice, cool, shady park, and two good sea- 
bathing establishments. In fact, it is the Coney Island of 
Yenezuela. From December to February it is crowded with 






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TEE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR 407 

fashionable people from the capital, who come for the sea- 
bathing. General Blanco possesses a charming villa there. 
You may reach either of these pretty suburbs by carriage as 
well as hy railway. 

The appearance of La Guayra from the ocean is indeed 
odd. It reaches along the shore for a distance of a mile or 
more, with two or three extensions up the steep hills and 
valleys, which are reddish brown in color and perfectly bar- 
ren, but for a few cacti. In fact, save the large cocoanut- 
grove at Maiquetia, no vegetation of any kind is in sight, ex- 
cept near the summits of the range. The color of the pre- 
cipitous heights is exactly the same as the roofs of the houses. 
Zigzag paths extend up the hills, but the buildings run only 
a little way. Along the shore there is generally but a single 
row. The dwellings of the negroes are little miniature huts, 
with a single door and window. The houses in the business 
quarter are two and three stories in height. The streets, 
which are crooked and paved, with sidewalks a couple of 
feet in width, are dimly lighted at night by oil-lamps. Upon 
a prominent knoll, back of the town, is a fort, though it is 
in a dilapidated condition. Not far from this is a small bull- 
ring, which is only occasionally occupied by companies from 
Spain that visit in turn the larger towns of Venezuela. 
There is nothing of any special moment to be seen in La 
Guayra ; its chief interest to a stranger centers in its extraor- 
dinary situation. It looks as if it might slide into the sea 
at any moment. Though it is a very hot place, it is regard- 
ed as healthy. But its only excuse for existing at all, is that 
it is the outlet, the seaport of the city of Caracas, which is 
situated but nine miles inland to the southward, though the 
railway that connects the two has to make a journey of twen- 
ty-three miles in order to scale the mountains. A row of 
about a mile took me ashore, and landed me at a long pier. 
In going from this to the custom-house, I passed a little park 
filled with flowers and dwarfish trees. It was surrounded by 
a neat iron fence, and in its center was a very spirited bronze 
equestrian statue of General Guzman Blanco, raised upon a 



408 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

white-marble pedestal, on the sides of which were emblemat- 
ical bronze tablets. At each corner stood great bronze can- 
delabra. This statue was erected in 1880, and is considered 
a very good likeness of Blanco. This little park is also de- 
serving of mention, as containing about all the trees in La 
Guayra. The distance from La Guayra to Caracas is, " as the 
crow flies," but six miles, and the old Spanish mule-trail 
crosses the crest of the mountains at an elevation of six thou- 
sand feet. It is said that about fifty years ago an English 
company offered to excavate a tunnel between the two cities, 
provided the Government of Venezuela would grant to them 
forever the right to all the minerals that might be found 
during the progress of the work. The offer was not accept- 
ed, however, and only lately a concession has been granted 
to an American company, which proposes to bore the grand 
subway, with the intent to operate a railway through it by 
means of the cable-grip and stationary engine system. 

The railroad which runs to Caracas was built by an Eng- 
lish company, some five years before my visit, and at great 
expense, owing to the number of cuts and tunnels, and the 
steepness of the grade — which is about three and a half per 
cent. All the rolling-stock is of British importation. Two 
passenger-trains and four freight or " goods " trains are run 
daily each way. The locomotives are small, but very pow- 
erful. The cars are small, very light, of two classes, and 
with seats running along the sides, from end to end. A 
first-class passenger-ticket to Caracas costs two dollars and a 
half. The railway follows the old coach-road, which is now 
only used by mule-troops. The cars are all provided with 
stout, patent brakes, worked from the locomotive. It is said 
there has not been an accident since the line was opened, 
though it is frequently blocked by land slides and by great 
quantities of gravel and earth washed down from the steep 
hills. The rains are very heavy and of long duration. Some- 
times the railway is interrupted for days at a time, and then 
the only communication with the capital is by the steep mule- 
path over the mountains, or by the old coach-road. The 



THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR. 409 

train stops half a dozen times, generally to take water for the 
locomotive. There are no villages on the route, and the 
country is not cultivated. The railway is a very remarkable 
feat of engineering, reminding me of several in Brazil, 
already mentioned in these pages. It is, of course, a narrow 
gauge, which admits of very sharp carves, and, in fact, there 
is scarcely in the whole road a straight stretch of live hun- 
dred feet. The line runs far to the westward, winding in 
and out of the valleys, but always ascending until a height of 
about three thousand feet is reached. Here, of course, the 
air is much cooler, and wraps are in request. The views, too, 
are extensive and very fine, the Caribbean Sea remaining in 
sight for nearly half the journey. At one point, called Zig- 
zag, three sections of the road are in view at one and the 
same time. Soon after, it turns to the interior and south, 
and follows along the precipitous side of a grand valley, fully 
a thousand feet above its bed. We pass through a great 
many rock-cuttings and several tunnels. Some of the views 
directly below the road would prove rather startling to a 
nervous person. As we near Caracas, the country becomes 
cultivated and somewhat inhabited, though the train glides into 
a fine station at its western side before you are aware of the 
proximity of a city, so little of it can be seen by this entrance. 
Caracas lies at the bottom of a beautiful valley, two or 
three miles in width, and perhaps fifteen in length, closed in 
by mountains from eight to ten thousand feet high. Though 
comparatively level, there is an even but decided slope from 
the north to the south. This promotes a sanitary drainage. 
The mountain-ranges are rough, and covered with bright- 
green grass below. Above, you see only dark-green trees. 
Beyond the city, both east and west, are level fields planted 
with sugar-cane, vegetables, coffee, and fruits. At the east- 
ern side is a large and dense wood. Caracas is laid out at 
right angles. The general appearance of the city, from the 
surrounding hills, is monotonous, the universal level being 
broken only by the outlines of half a dozen churches, and 
the roof of the opera-house. The houses, built of mud or 



410 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

brick, with peaked tile- roofs, are mostly but one story in 
height. The streets are narrow, never (with one exception) 
more than fifteen feet in width, though all are paved with 
cobble-stones, and kept unusually clean. The sidewalks are 
capitally made of Portland cement. The naming of the 
streets in Caracas is unique, reminding me somewhat of the 
method employed in Buenos Ayres, though, when once com- 
prehended, the process here employed is much less confusing 
than there. Two streets intersect at right angles, just about 
the center of the city, at one corner of the Plaza Bolivar, the 
best square. These streets extend toward the four cardinal 
points. Starting from the corner of the Plaza Bolivar, they 
are designated as North, East, South, and West Avenues. 
Then the streets running north from the East Avenue are 
called North First, North Third, North Fifth, etc.; and 
those running north from the West Avenue are called North 
Second, North Fourth, North Sixth, etc. A similar nomen- 
clature is given to streets running south from East and West 
Avenues, as South First, South Third, South Fifth ; South 
Second, South Fourth, South Sixth. In this manner, when 
once the mode is explained, the name of the street instantly 
denotes its position with regard to the cardinal points of the 
compass. All that the stranger has to do is to go through 
the process of orientation. The streets running parallel to 
the east and west avenues are styled east and west respectively 
of the north or south avenue, with odd numbers to the 
north and even numbers to the south of that dividing line. 
Moreover, each house has its particular number, an unusual 
thing for a South American city. There are two or three 
lines of narrow-gauge tramway, with miniature cars of but 
four benches. Hackney-coaches, and very good ones, abound, 
while the carriages to be had at private livery-stables are 
quite as good as those in New York. Carriage-hire is also 
very reasonable — thirty cents to cross the city, or a dollar by 
the hour to call or shop. The city is well illuminated by gas 
and electric lights. The telephone is in almost universal 
use. There are several good hotels, having a sort of com- 



TEE BIRTEPLAGE OF BOLIVAR. 411 

promise between French and Spanish cookery. Retail stores 
are numerous and various, and a goodly number of foreign 
firms — chiefly of German and English nationality— appear to 
flourish. The dwellings are not particularly handsome, either 
inside or out. They generally have, facing the street, a large 
door and a large window, the latter always heavily barred 
with iron and with interior shutters, which are opened to let 
the female members of the household peep through wire or 
wooden gratings. 

About the center of the western extremity of the city, 
the top of the steep spur of a chain of hills has been leveled, 
and its sides terraced in order to make a park called the 
Paseo Guzman Blanco, whence the finest view of Caracas and 
its valley and surrounding mountains may be obtained. The 
summit of this hill is perhaps five hundred feet above the 
city. A good carriage-road turns and winds, doubles and 
zigzags, from the bottom to the top. At the base an enor- 
mous semicircle of stone steps leads to a foot-path which con- 
tinues to the top. Beautiful and rare plants and flowers are 
everywhere set out. You pass fountains and pavilions, cages 
of animals and birds, and find a very pretty flower-garden 
upon the summit. Here stands a colossal bronze statue of 
Guzman Blanco, reared upon a red and yellow sandstone 
base, which itself stands upon a huge brick foundation of 
three terraces. Around this you walk, by a gradually in- 
clined plane, on and upward to the statue. The railing which 
bounds this mammoth foundation is made of old musket-barrels 
and cannon-balls. The position of the statue is so prominent 
as to be seen from any part of the city, and, I had almost 
said, valley. The wonders which the genius of man has 
worked upon this rough and forbidding eminence called forci- 
bly to mind a similar work effected with the pyramidal hill of 
Santa Lucia at Santiago, Chili. A little farther to the west- 
ward is the distributing reservoir, the water used by Caracas 
coming in an open aqueduct, from a river eighteen miles 
distant. Large iron-pipes conduct the water through the 
city. From the Paseo Guzman Blanco I went to the public 



412 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

market, situated near the center of the citj, and occupying 
nearly an entire square. The buildings formed a quadrangle, 
which was mostly used by dealers in knickknacks and by 
small restaurateurs. Great, iron-roofed sheds in the court- 
yard contained the fruits, meats, and vegetables. A profuse 
supply of all of these was on hand, and the variety of fruits 
and vegetables— coming as they did from both tropic and 
temperate zones — truly astonished me. Opposite the market 
is a pretty little square, full of trees and flowers, and con- 
taining a bronze statue of the man who was at once the father 
of General Blanco and the editor of an influential Caracas 
newspaper. An interesting curiosity, in the shape of a small 
stone sun-dial, made and used by Alexander von Humboldt 
during his visit to Caracas in January, 1800, is now affixed to 
one of the corner-posts of the railing which surrounds this 
park. From here I visited the Plaza Bolivar, close at hand. 
It also is a pretty little square, surrounded by a neat iron fence, 
and containing graceful bronze candelabra for gas. In the 
center of the garden stands the finest statue in Caracas, that of 
Bolivar, which was erected by General Blanco. It is a colos- 
sal equestrian figure, the horse rearing upon his hind legs, 
and ingeniously supported by his tail, that touches the ground, 
exactly as in the statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg. 
The images are of bronze, the pedestal of a beautiful bluish- 
gray granite, highly polished. An inscription on the front 
of the base informs the visitor that Simon Bolivar was 
the liberator of Venezuela, New Granada, and Pern, and the 
founder of Bolivia. On other sides I read that this great 
man — the Washington of South America — was born in Ca- 
racas, July 21, 1783, and died at Santa Marta (United States 
of Colombia) on December 17, 1830. His remains were 
brought to Caracas, and re-entombed on December 17, 1842 ; 
and, in 1S74, the illustrious American, Guzman Blanco, 
President of the Republic, caused this monument to be 
erected. 

Many of the public buildings of Caracas are handsome 
in architecture and pleasing in both contents and intents. 



THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR. 413 

The university occupies nearly all of a large square. Its 
facade is of the Gothic order, with stained-glass windows. 
There are two courts, one beyond the other, filled with shrubs 
and beautiful flowers. The first contains a bronze statue of 
Dr. Yargas, who bequeathed to the university a small library 
and a very good museum of a miscellaneous character, rep- 
resenting the three kingdoms of nature. The second court 
contains the bronze statue of a famous citizen, named Cajegal, 
who was the founder of mathematical studies in Venezuela. 
Passing through this court-yard, you come out upon a broad 
stone platform, adjoining another street, and containing a life- 
size bronze statue of Bolivar. The University Library is 
used by the public. It is a miscellaneous collection of about 
thirty thousand volumes. In front of the university, and 
occupying an entire square, are the Halls of Congress, the 
Federal Palace, the Federal Courts, and the Government 
offices. This huge quadrangular building is surrounded on 
three sides by wide avenues containing double rows of trees, 
something after the style of the Paris boulevards. The build- 
ing, though only a single story in height, and constructed of 
brick and stucco, is quite imposing. The interior is laid out 
in a pretty garden, with a fine large bronze fountain in the 
center. A carriage-road, having great bronze gateways, passes 
through, from street to street. The space between the uni- 
versity and the Halls of Congress is termed the Plaza Guz- 
man Blanco, from a handsome bronze equestrian image of the 
general standing in its center. Near the statue are two enor- 
mous bronze cannon, made in Seville, and captured from the 
Spaniards during the War of Independence. The two Houses 
of Congress, the Senate and the Deputies, are exceedingly 
plain, fitted with mahogany tribunes, and chairs with broad 
arms to be used in place of desks. A few paintings of Boli- 
var and Blanco alone relieved the staring white of the walls. 
Directly opposite these two legislative halls is the Federal Pal- 
ace, a sort of large reception-room, of elliptical form, occasion- 
ally used for state balls, with a laid- wood floor of neat pattern, 
and furnished with chairs and sofas covered with red, yellow, 



414 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA^ 

and blue figured satin. The windows have hangings of red 
and yellow silk, and hear the coat-of-arms of Venezuela, beau- 
tifully embroidered in a variety of gay colors. But the most 
interesting thing about this room is a collection of painted 
portraits of about fifty men famous in Venezuelan history. 
These date from Bolivar and the War of Independence, down 
to the present day and Guzman Blanco ; and though most of 
them represent military heroes, yet they also include states- 
men and men of science and letters. It is a most interesting 
and valuable portrait gallery, of which all Venezuelans 
should be especially proud. The opera-house — called the 
Teatro Guzman Blanco — is only two squares distant from the 
Halls of Congress. This modern building is, like the Federal 
Palace, elliptical in shape, with a portico and stained-glass 
windows. It has three galleries and a parquette, and will 
seat altogether about twenty-five hundred people. The box 
of the President is in the center of the dress-circle. A hand- 
some crystal chandelier depends from the middle of the roof. 
The house is illumined by electric lights. Paintings of fa- 
mous composers and poets adorn the galleries. The foyer, 
strange to say, is at the top and front of the house, a very 
large room containing some good engravings and a large 
medallion of Guzman Blanco. This house is generally closed 
daring the summer. A smaller theatre, called the Teatro 
Caracas, in the northern part of the city, is apt to be open a 
large part of the year, and is usually occupied by an opera 
comique or bouffe troupe. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 

The Panteon Nacional of Caracas — a sort of Venezuelan 
"Westminster Abbey — is a large church in the northern part 
of the city, once old and dilapidated, but now reconstructed 
and put in good order for use as a National Mausoleum. In 
the part usually reserved for a high altar in a Catholic church 
lie the remains of Simon Bolivar, under a splendid white- 
marble cenotaph embracing a life-size statue of the general 
and libertador (liberator), flanked by large emblematic fig- 
ures, and supplemented by allegorical tablets. The front of 
the monument is almost covered with wreaths of artificial 
flowers, which produce a pretty effect. The walls contain 
slabs of alabaster and marble engraved with coats-of-arms of 
illustrious Venezuelans, and selections from the sayings and 
writings of Bolivar. Above the cenotaph is a splendid crys- 
tal chandelier holding hundreds of candles, and two huge 
candelabra stand at the sides. On either hand are large 
book-cases containing collections of books and periodicals in 
all languages, referring to the life and career of Simon Boli- 
var The Venezuelans cherish most fondly everything con- 
nected with the name and fame of that celebrated man. I 
went into a store one morning and saw, above an inner door, 
a marble slab let into the wall, which informed me that in 
that house was born the Liberator of Venezuela, in 1783. 
What is termed the National Museum is simply a collection 
of Bolivar relics, paintings, statues, and rich gift-offerings of 
various towns and individuals, on the occasion of the Bolivar 
centennial, which are preserved in two small rooms in the 



416 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

same building wherein is the Venezuelan Academy. In refer- 
ence to the Academy I might mention that its meetings are 
held in a handsomely frescoed room, in the center of which 
is a large oval table, perhaps twenty feet in length and five 
in width. Around this sit the sixteen members of the Acad- 
emy, in great, high-backed chairs. This table, covered with 
green baize in the center, has a deep border of inlaid woods, 
the dark cocoanut being especially prominent, while the re- 
mainder is made of fragrant cedar. A neighboring room 
contains a small but valuable library on general philology, 
and works on the Spanish language. 

The Caracas ladies are dark, but many of them very 
beautiful, with velvety skin, luxuriant, coal-black hair, and 
wonderful flashing eyes, which they well know how to use to 
the utter destruction of a young man's peace of mind. In 
the streets they wear both black and light-colored dresses. 
The black dresses, with the lace-fringed black mantle, seem 
to best become their style of beauty. They never wear 
hats in the street, and rarely boots, but, instead, high heeled 
French slippers. Their walk and general carriage are grace- 
ful, and not a little coquettish. As I passed along the side- 
walks, I noticed that all the shutters were thrown wide open, 
thus giving an unobstructed view of the parlors and the 
people. These rooms are generally plainly furnished, but 
brilliantly lighted, and full of gayly dressed and vivaciously 
chatting people who seemed to be quite unconscious of the 
bold publicity of their doings. Occasionally might be seen a 
young cavalier talking through the great iron bars of a win- 
dow to a blushing senorita sitting on the window-sill within. 
But still more likely would you find all the inmates crowded 
into the window recesses, and gazing curiously into the 
streets and at the passers-by. 

Nearly all the fine public buildings, parks, and statues of 
Caracas have been built by Guzman Blanco. Almost all the 
important public works have also been initiated and com- 
pleted by this remarkably enterprising man. If Paris was 
Haussmannized, then in a much broader, grander sense has 



GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 417 

Caracas been Blancoized. Three statues to him in Caracas, 
and many others in different cities of the republic, erected 
during his lifetime, attest the gratitude of an appreciative 
nation. It certainly can not be said that Blanco himself was 
ungenerous or narrow-minded, for he has erected many stat- 
ues in Caracas to famous Venezuelans, and also a statue to 
one not a Venezuelan — George Washington. A few months 
before my arrival at Caracas, General Blanco, who had been 
representing his country in England and France for the pre- 
vious two years, returned to enter upon the duties of Presi- 
dent, an office to which he had been elected for the third 
time. He came from France by the way of Barbados, and 
was welcomed back in the most enthusiastic manner, the 
people taking a three days' holiday, during which festivities 
of various kinds — such as processions, receptions, banquets, 
bull-fights, illuminations, and a solemn Te Deum sung in the 
cathedral — followed each other in rapid succession. The 
officials issued laudatory and congratulatory pronunciamientos, 
while the newspapers echoed the popular joy and patriotic 
feeling in the most extraordinary outbursts of rhetoric. 
There was scarcely a house in the city but displayed the 
Venezuelan tricolor — red, blue, and yellow. Rows of gas- 
jets were arranged in most of the parks, banners marked 
" Peace " were everywhere displayed on tall staffs, while the 
street through which General Blanco passed to his house 
was ornamented with several triumphant arches. The great 
quantity of bunting, everywhere displayed, gave the city a 
very gay and animated appearance, as did the colored lan- 
terns, which were suspended between the trees and the stat- 
ues in the plazas, decorated with beautiful flowers and ever- 
greens. The people, in holiday attire, restlessly paraded the 
streets, quite beside themselves with excitement and joy. 
Fire- works were continuously set off, by day as well as night. 
Two trains of prominent officials, including the acting Presi- 
dent, the archbishop, and the diplomatic corps, went down 
to La Guayra to receive the " Illustrious American," as his 
countrymen love to style General Blanco, and to escort him 
27 



418 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

up to the capital. Many of the newspapers catne out in 
double numbers, on tinted paper, with covers and illustra- 
tions wholly devoted to eulogies of Guzman Blanco. Sev- 
eral of the ordinary newspapers were issued gratis. General 
Blanco was welcomed at La Guayra with glowing speeches 
and inspiriting music, and being escorted to the capital was 
received with the wildest enthusiasm by the citizens, nearly 
all of whom seemed to be in the streets. The general was 
attended to his house amid a salute of artillery, ringing of 
church bells, the music of military bands, fire-works bursting 
in air, and vociferous cheering by the populace. Besides the 
popular amusements above catalogued, might be mentioned 
bull-racing in the principal streets, a banquet for the people 
in the public market-place, and a gala concert by the famous 
pianist, Teresina Carreno, a native of Caracas, and a lady 
who has often been heard in New York, and always with in- 
terest and delight. Finally, the Venezuelan Academy, of 
which Guzman Blanco is the president, celebrated what it 
was pleased to term a " solemn session." The career of a 
man to whom such extraordinary honors have been paid is 
well worthy of recital. 

• Antonio Guzman Blanco was born in the city of Caracas 
in 1830. His father, of whom I have already spoken, was a 
journalist and politician. Pie had been private secretary to 
the great liberator, Bolivar, and may be considered as the 
founder of the Liberal party in Venezuela. Guzman w r as 
educated at the University of Caracas, where he acquired 
proficiency in various branches of learning, principally in 
law, though his tastes naturally led him to cultivate belles- 
lettres, in which pursuit he had considerable success. The 
liberal principles instilled into his mind by his father, how- 
ever, soon diverted the thoughts of the young man to poli- 
tics. He quickly came prominently to the front, as one of 
the leaders of the great revolution that set Venezuela free 
from the tyranny under which she had suffered since 1830. 
He displayed so much ability, both as a soldier and an ad- 
ministrator, that when the dictator, General Paez, w T as forced, 




General Guzman Blanco. 



GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 419 

after a protracted and bloody struggle, to sue for peace, lie 
was intrusted, with his friend and former chief, General Fal- 
con, with the reorganization of the republic. Blanco became 
Vice-President. He was, at the same time, Secretary of the 
Treasury, and went to London to negotiate a loan. On his 
return, he was, for a short time, in charge of the executive, 
and afterward was elected President of Congress. In 1868 
another revolution overthrew the existing government. But 
the triumph of the Liberal party was soon followed by a 
state of complete anarchy and disturbance. General Blanco 
was invited to take command and restore public order. 
Within seventy days the campaign was at an end, and Blanco 
entered Caracas in triumph, at the head of eight thousand 
soldiers. He became provisional President, with extraordi- 
nary powers, and ruled the country for four years as a dic- 
tator. 

Though invested with absolute power, he did not abuse 
the trust, but devoted his energies to the reorganization of 
the nation, and to leading it into the paths of peace and 
progress. His first care was to provide public instruction, 
which had been almost abandoned. During his term of 
office he doubled the number of primary government schools 
and scholars, and established six normal institutions, and 
about twenty national colleges. In the Department of Public 
Works, and as regards the development of the country, what- 
ever there was in Yenezuela in 1877 was due to the energy of 
President Guzman Blanco. Large sums were spent on rail- 
ways, roads, bridges, telegraphs, and city improvements. 
Equal success attended his efforts in reorganizing the national 
finances. The revenue, which formerly was not sufficient to 
pay the salaries of the public employes, soon increased under 
his administration, so as to be not only sufficient to meet the 
current expenses, and provide the millions spent on public 
works, but also to re-establish public credit in the interior, 
and to leave a surplus in the national treasury. Nor were 
other branches of administration disregarded. The civil, 
military, and penal codes were revised, and the best and 



420 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

most modern provisions were incorporated into them. His 
presidential period having been completed, General Blanco 
handed over the administration to his successor, and, leaving 
everything in order, went once more to Europe. But soon 
reactionary movements began. The people rose en masse 
and invoked the aid of Guzman Blanco, who, thus called 
upon by his fellow-citizens, returned at once to his country, 
and immediately succeeded in restoring order. He was again 
elected President, and directed the Government of Venezuela 
from 1880 to 1884. This second constitutional period having 
come to an end, he was again returned to Europe as ambassa- 
dor to France and England. 

The second term of office was no less fruitful of benefi- 
cent results than his first. He made an arrangement with 
the holders of the national debt whereby an interest of three 
per cent annually was secured to them. This has regularly 
been paid ever since. The boundaries of the republic were 
defined in all their extension, and an immense territory in 
the valley of the Amazon, which had been neglected by pre- 
vious administrations, was reclaimed by Venezuela. So 
much attention was given at this time to public instruction, 
that when the President left power, there were nearly in round 
numbers two thousand national schools, attended by one hun- 
dred thousand scholars, as against five hundred schools and 
thirteen thousand scholars when he was first elected President 
in 1873. He ?„lso founded a polytechnic school and a school 
of arts and trades, another of marine, and another of teleg- 
raphy, all of which are of great service to the state. Chief 
among the public works carried out during this period may 
be mentioned the La Guayra and Caracas Railway, that from 
Macuto to Maiquetia, and several lines running from the 
capital into the interior. The system of national telegraphs 
was largely extended, and gas-works, electric lighting, and 
the telephone were introduced. In spite of the large sums 
spent in public works, the finances of the country were so 
well managed that when General Crespo came into power, 
in 1884, he found a surplus of over two million dollars in 



GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 421 

the treasury. Peace was steadily maintained. The Consti- 
tution was revised, and more liberal statutes adopted. The 
presidential period was reduced, and a Council of Adminis- 
tration was constituted, without the consent of which the ex- 
ecutive power can not act. 

In 1886 Guzman Blanco again assumed the presidencv, 
and in 1888 he returned once more to Europe as minister 
plenipotentiary, where he now represents his country with 
dignity "near the Governments" of France and England. 
Such, in brief, are the chief events in the career of this ex- 
traordinary man. In view of all that he has done for his 
country, working under so many difficulties, General Guz- 
man Blanco well deserves to be considered a statesman of 
high order, and to enjoy the title of " Illustrious American " 
conferred upon him by his grateful countrymen. His energy, 
his influence, his wisdom, and his works are apparent in 
every town, on every road throughout the land. He is the 
only ruler of the country who has done much to develop it. 
And Yenezuela is one of the richest and most enlightened 
countries of South America. There is, in fact, everything 
to make a prosperous country, except population. There are 
only two million inhabitants in a country more than twice as 
large as France. All climates exist there, so that wheat, as 
well as coffee may be raised. The country is ripe for devel- 
opment as soon as railroads and other facilities induce immi- 
gration. Guzman Blanco is enormously rich. He owns sev- 
eral entire provinces. Besides his town-house, in the capital, 
he possesses a magnificent country-seat, up the valley from 
Caracas, about an hour's drive, and reached also by rail. The 
"season" in Caracas used to be whenever Blanco was in 
town, and terminated when he left. Madame Guzman 
Blanco is a remarkably handsome woman, and is, moreover, 
very amiable and charitable. 

From La Guayra I wished to visit the only remaining 
South American country — the United States of Colombia — 
yet unseen. So I took a steamer of the West India and 
Pacific Company, which called first at Puerto Cabello, in Yen- 



422 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ezuela, and next at Curacao, the largest of the Dutch West 
India Islands, lying about seventy-five miles from the Span- 
ish Main. Then, rounding Point Gallinas, the most north- 
erly land of South America, we headed directly for Sava- 
nilla, at the mouth of the Magdalena, which river I expected 
to ascend on my way to the capital, Santa Fe de Bogota. 
Puerto Cabello lies upon a long, narrow, low peninsula, set- 
ting out to the northward from the base of the same range 
of mountains which back La Guayra. The position and ap- 
pearance of the town are very picturesque. The roadstead 
is of crescent shape, with a fine sandy beach, and groves of 
cocoa-palms in the distance. To the east of the town is an 
extensive and deep lagoon, into which large steamers may en- 
ter, and lie snugly at the wharves. The town reaches directly 
down to the water's edge. In the interior, about twenty 
miles southeast of Puerto Cabello, is the important city of 
Valencia, formerly connected with its seaport by diligence, 
but to which a railway is now completed. After a little 
more than a day in Puerto Cabello, we left for Curacao at 
six, one evening, and early the next morning sighted the long, 
narrow, and generally low island, which is, I believe, about 
forty miles in length by ten in width. The occasional 
jagged points, precipitous cliffs, and numerous hillocks, in- 
dicated a volcanic origin. The island seemed destitute of 
trees or other vegetation, and had a very calcareous, sandy, 
dry appearance. Lime-phosphate is mined there. At inter- 
vals, in the mouths of little valleys, were hamlets of negroes. 
The capital, situated at about the western center of the island, 
is called Willemstad. The houses of this town are built com- 
pactly together, with few or no trees intervening, and their 
walls are of very gay colors, which, with the two gray forts 
at the entrance of the harbor, the long range of smooth hills 
behind, and the great, square, brown fort on top of a central 
hill, make a very picturesque ensemble. The great variety 
of bright colors gives the place so fanciful an appearence as to 
seem almost frivolous. It looks, for all the world, like one 
of the toy villages so dear to children. The many dormer- 



GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 423 

windows, quaint little towers, steep-pitched roofs, and houses 
with gable-ends facing the streets, again vividly recall Hol- 
land. The entrance to the commodious and deep harbor 
is not more than three hundred feet in width. The fortresses 
on each hand mount guns of but slight caliber, and seem 
much dilapidated. Around the harbor proper are the great 
warehouses, while about a large arm of it are most of the 
residences. In the harbor were a number of steamers, a few 
ships, two men-of-war, and a small fleet of schooners, which 
ply between Curacao and the Spanish Main. Diminutive 
flat-bottomed boats were continually ferrying people across. 

The streets of the city are narrow, and paved with little 
blocks of stone. The short cross-streets are only four or Ave 
feet in width. Though the heat is great, and rain scarcely 
ever falls, a fresh breeze always blows from the north or 
southeast, and the island is said to be remarkably healthy as 
a residence for foreigners. The population of Willemstad is 
about twenty-five thousand, which is a little more than half 
that of the whole island. Though a Dutch colony, it is a 
very cosmopolitan sort of place. You see every variety of 
complexion, and hear half a dozen tongues, in a walk of a 
few blocks. The telephone is in general use. There is a 
good club house, with a reading-room well supplied with 
journals in many languages. The island produces little or 
nothing, but Willemstad, being a free port, attracts a consid- 
erable transfer of products, and many lines of ocean-steam- 
ers touch regularly here ; besides, great quantities of goods 
are brought and sold to dealers for the Spanish Main. Cura- 
cao must be fed altogether from without, much food coming 
from Europe and the United States, and some also from the 
neighboring shores of Venezuela and Colombia. The island 
gives name to the well-known liquor called Curacao. This 
highly esteemed aromatic cordial is made from small oranges, 
or orange-peel, cinnamon, and cloves, digested in weak spirits. 

We remained at Willemstad only during the day, leav- 
ing at 5 p. m. for Savanilla. During the night we passed be- 
tween the Dutch Island of Oruba, on the right (north) hand, 



424 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

and the Paraguana peninsula, connected with the mainland 
by a long and narrow isthmus, only three or four miles in 
width, on the left — the channel separating the two being but 
about fifteen miles broad. We also crossed, before morning, 
the mouth of the Gulf of Venezuela, into which empties 
Lake Maracaybo, through a long and narrow channel, upon 
the western side whereof is the city of Maracaybo — the third 
in size and importance in Venezuela. In the channel of 
Maracaybo Lake there is but ten feet of water at high tide, 
so that only light-draught steamers can enter. A small 
American steamer runs between Curacao and Maracaybo 
three times each month. At 8 a. m. we were about six miles 
off the Guajira Peninsula and Point Gallinas, the northern 
extremity of South America. We could see, at a distance 
inland, a range of hills perhaps two thousand feet in height, 
the region about the point being generally very low. Early 
next morning we passed the town of Santa Marta, the capi- 
tal of a province of the same name, in the United States of 
Colombia. It stands upon the shore, at the base of a lofty 
ridge of mountains, which rises gradually, and finally termi- 
nates in the great, snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada de 
Santa Marta. The town of Santa Marta was once very im- 
portant, but it is now falling into decay, through the trade 
of the interior being directed to Barranquilla and Salgar, on 
the Magdalena. I had a superb view of the five conical 
peaks of the Sierra Nevada, sixteen thousand six hun- 
dred and forty feet high, and covered with snow, as their 
name indicates. They are visible at sea, in clear weather, a 
distance of about seventy miles. They extend east and west, 
or at right angles to the axis of the great Andean system, 
which begins some eighty miles farther south. The range 
does not seem more than thirty or forty miles in length. Of 
course, such an immense and lofty dark mass did not present 
the beauty or majesty of a single dome, like Chimborazo, or 
a solitary cone like Cotopaxi ; still, so thick were the fleecy 
clouds, far below the summits, and so direct a view did I get 
from the sea-level that, with the surrounding generally low 



GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. 425 

and level expanse of country, the spectacle was most impress- 
ive and interesting. Though several attempts have been 
made at different times, by foreigners, these peaks have 
never been ascended, at least never to their summits. As 
we steamed on to the west, the sea-water soon became very- 
muddy, much disturbed, and covered with drift-wood ; and 
we knew we were at the mouth of a great river, and that 
that river must be none other than the Magdalena. The 
distant shores were low, flat, and densely wooded. We had 
reached the delta. The Magdalena enters the Caribbean by 
two arms, one about six miles to the eastward of the other ; 
and these, uniting some six miles from the sea, embrace the 
Island of Gomez, which, therefore, bears to the Magdalena a 
relation similar to that which the great Island of Marajo 
bears to the Amazon. The westerly branch, or Magdalena 
proper, is about two miles wide, while the eastern branch is 
only about half a mile. But both contain bars which are 
subject to such great and sudden changes, as to make the 
river there shallow and unnavigable. Hence the produce of 
the interior is brought down only as far as Barranqnilla, 
whence it is transported by rail about fourteen miles to the 
seaport of Salgar. From there it is carried 'in lighters and 
iron barges, towed by steam-tugs, and put aboard steamers 
lying five miles distant in the Bay of Savanilla. But I am 
anticipating a little. 



CHAPTER XLVII. 

A WEEK ON THE MAGDALENA. 

As we steamed on from the mouths of the river, the sea 
became clearer and the land gradually rose into ranges of 
low, table-topped hills, thickly covered with small trees and 
scrub. We rounded some low islands, and then found our- 
selves in a long bay, sheltered somewhat from the swell and 
waves. There were but two steamers and a small ship at 
anchor, and as we halted near them no town was in sight, 
only on a distant bluff a solitary old custom-house, whose 
white walls we had seen from a long distance in the offing. 
This custom-house was never used, but it was quite com- 
pleted before it occurred to the builders that it would be a 
rather costly, not to say unnecessary, proceeding to haul 
goods up and then lower them down the forty feet of bluff 
on which it stands. Soon after our anchor was down, a small, 
very wheezy, and dilapidated tug came alongside, and took 
passengers and baggage still farther up the bay, to the little 
village of Salgar, where the present terminus of the railway 
running to Barranquilla is built. Landing on a long wooden 
pier, upon which stand the freight-cars, we first had our bag- 
gage weighed in the station-house, all in excess of one hun- 
dred kilogrammes having to be paid for later at the custom- 
house in Barranquilla. There are morning and afternoon 
trains to this town. The road led over the level, swampy, 
wooded delta land, where I noticed great numbers of many 
kinds of pelicans, cranes, flamingoes, and other fishing-birds. 
Arrived at Barranquilla, I was first struck by a long row of 
great river-boats, with their lofty double funnels, built ex- 



A WEEK 0N~ THE MAGDALEN A. 427 

actlj upon tlie model of those we use upon the Mississippi. 
They were lying in a very narrow sort of creek, a part of the 
Magdalena, whose main stream might be seen in the distance, 
rushing past with an eight-knot current. Barrauquilla is built 
upon a vast sandy plain, upon the western shore and near 
the junction of the two arms of the river. It is a town of 
small, single-story, mud-walled, and grass-thatched huts, and 
contains about twenty thousand inhabitants. Mule hackney- 
coaches abound, and are extremely necessary, owing not only 
to the obstacles presented by deep sand, but also to its blind- 
ing glare, which is very trying to the eyes. I found a very 
good hotel, with large, airy rooms, and the breakfast ready 
on a table set in the interior corridor of the court. A num- 
ber of native gentlemen were chatting in the parlor, which 
contained a prim double row of rocking-chairs, placed vis-a- 
vis in the center of the room. These Colombians were all 
dressed in white, and the corner rack was covered with their 
enormously large and high, conical straw hats. These in ap- 
pearance would become the conventional and not yet alto- 
gether traditional bandit, but are just the thing for peaceful 
wear in tropical latitudes. 

I made all my preparations, packed my mule-trunks, and 
left on the afternoon of December 3d, in one of the large 
mail-steamers for Yeguas, a port twenty miles bejow the town 
of Honda, with which it is connected by rail. ( Caracoli, the 
port of Honda, is six hundred and thirty miles from the sea, 
and is accessible to steamers drawing as much as four feet of 
water. The Magdalena is navigable by canoes almost to its 
source, nearly a thousand miles from the Caribbean. ) Honda 
is from two to four days' journey from Bogota — on mule- 
back and in diligence — according to the condition of the 
roads and the quality of your animals. The steamer in 
which I took passage was of three decks or stories in 
height, and atop of all was a pilot-house. Upon the main- 
deck, at the forward end, are the boilers which are of the 
multiform tubular pattern, and wood is burned under them. 
Huge piles of wood are made around the boilers, and along 



428 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the sides of the steamers, and at least twice in each twenty- 
four hours supplies have to be taken, so great is the quantity 
burned. It is piled up for sale, at frequent intervals, along 
the river-bank. As a counterpoise to the boilers, the machin- 
ery is placed next the wheel, at the stern, the intervening 
space being used by passengers of the second class, by the 
minor officers, and for the kitchen, freight, and animals. 
These steamers are steered by four connected rudders, which 
move simultaneously. The largest of them carry about two 
hundred and fifty tons of cargo. They are built in England, 
of iron, and are put together in compartments. About 
twenty of them are at present on the river, all in good run- 
ning order. A number of companies formerly existed, but 
lately there has been a- fusion of interests, and all now work 
under one direction. ( Steamers have been running on the 
Magdalena about half a century. \ A broad staircase leads 
from near the prow to the second deck, which is reserved 
exclusively for the use of passengers. First there is an open 
space, employed as a sitting-room during the day, and which, 
with curtains let down, and supplied with canvas cots, forms 
a spacious and cool dormitory. Then come the state-rooms, 
numbering only ten. The saloon is gaudily painted and sup- 
plied with large mirrors, tables, settees, and chairs. The 
state-rooms contain only cots and rough wash-stands. The 
traveler must bring his own bedding and mosquito-netting. 
The customary bedding consists of a straw mat, to place first 
upon the cot, a pillow, a pair of sheets, and a blanket, for the 
late nights upon the river are apt to be chilly. After the 
first two or three nights, when the river has become narrower 
and shallower, it is customary to draw in to the bank, and 
remain fast until morning, and at such times the mosquitoes 
are certain to be very troublesome. Hence, no native pas- 
senger ever forgets his mosquito-netting. Back of the saloon 
and cabins is a large open space, in which a long dining- 
table is spread. This space is also utilized at night as a dor- 
mitory, cots being provided for the passengers. An extra 
charge of ten dollars is made for the state-rooms, and lady 



A WEEK tfiV" TEE MAGDALEWA. 429 

passengers deferentially have first choice. Back of the open 
dining-saloon are the pantry and stewards' rooms, the "bath- 
rooms and lavatory. Upon the upper deck, the use of which 
is denied to passengers, are the rooms of the captain, engi- 
neers, and pilots. Upon the forward end of the structure, 
containing these quarters, is the large, square, glass-inclosed 
pilot-house. The latter, being thus situated about forty feet 
above the river, affords a very extensive survey of its surface, 
from which the wary pilots can generally detect the neigh- 
borhood and proximity of shoals or reefs. Each of the large 
mail-steamers, two of which run each week to Yeguas, car- 
ries a physician. This gentleman is a foreigner. So are the 
captain and the chief engineer of many of the steamers, gen- 
erally either Englishmen or North Americans. 

We started with a total of forty passengers, about equally 
divided between the first and second class. The food sup- 
plied was of very fair quality, though we were subjected to 
a most unusual and unseemly haste in its serving. The plates 
are never changed, but, as soon as you are seated, three or four 
native boys, in shirt and trousers, and with bare feet, rapidly 
make the round of the table six or eight times, each one plac- 
ing upon your plate a different kind of fish, flesh, fowl, fruit, 
or vegetable — hot and cold, sweet and sour. Soon you have 
such a heaped-up hodge-podge before you that you can not 
see nor taste what you are eating. Coffee and bread and but- 
ter are served at six a. m. ; breakfast is at eleven, and dinner 
' at five p. m. Though a stampede ensues as soon as the second 
bell rings, yet a good deal of ceremony is observed, such as all 
standing until the captain or doctor takes his seat, and then 
all sitting down simultaneously. Everybody appeared to 
finish eating at precisely the same time, for all rose together. 
It is also the custom of the captain to hand to the table two 
of the lady passengers, and to leave it with two others. But 
the speed of the serving and eating of the meal would put to 
shame that witnessed at the station of an American "Western 
railroad where twenty minutes for dinner had been an- 
nounced. Although there was plenty of time, most of the 



430 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

passengers having nothing to do but eat and sleep, yet the 
average length of our dinner " hour " was but fifteen minutes. 
The wine supplied by the steamer not being of a very supe- 
rior mark, most of the passengers bring their own. Filtered 
river-water is used, and it is very palatable and wholesome. 
( The Magdalena River is exceedingly tortuous, full of isl- 
ands, and has many branches and side lakes, which enter it 
through small creeks. Its very tortuousness, however, makes 
it navigable, for its declivity is very great, 'Honda being eight 
hundred and sixty-two feet above sea-level. Many villages 
and towns dot the Magdalena, Mompos being the third larg- 
est, with a population of about eight thousand ; Honda the 
second, with twelve thousand ; and Barranquilla the first, with 
twenty thousand. The greater part of the traffic of the re- 
public is carried on over the Magdalena. We have (native 
pilots, wbo thoroughly understand the middle and upper por- 
tion of the river, where the navigation is extremely difficult.] 
The channels run on one or the other side, and frequently 
cross from one to the other, through the resistance of some 
obstacle, or the conformation of the banks. In the dry sea- 
son the river usually hollows out a sort of special channel, in 
which there will be a general depth of five or six feet, so that 
vessels drawing four feet can pass in safety. The rise of the 
river in the rainy season is from fifteen to twenty feet. At 
every interval of five or six years there is an extra high flood, 
as was the case on the occasion of my visit, when the country 
was under water in every direction, and villages were half 
submerged. ) Along the village front you will often see little 
dikes of tree-trunks, sticks, and leaves, but these serve to little 
purpose. Frequently we notice a village quite surrounded 
by water, and with all its streets water-ways, so that there 
must be a foot or more of water in the huts ; but the people 
squat in the doorways and in canoes, waiting for the waters 
to recede, and gazing calmly at the passing steamer. The 
Indians like to live exactly upon the water's edge, and this is 
a principal cause of the inundations which afflict them ; for, 
though much of the land upon the lower Magdalena is low, 



A WEEK ON THE MAGDALEN A. 431 

yet there is an occasional bit of higher ground, and here the 
old Spaniards, with more discretion than their descendants, 
always located their towns, secure from inundation or change 
in the course of the river. The general direction of the Mag- 
dalena is from north to south. Its waters are very muddy, 
and covered with small floating islands of aquatic plants 
and drift-wood. / Its banks, at first, to one ascending, are 
low, and covered with a scrubby sort of forest, with ranges 
of low hills in the far distance, toward the south. It has a 
width varying from one to two miles, and contains many 
large islands. We were often able to materially shorten our 
journey, by taking the creeks and minor channels between 
the islands and banks. The profusion of water-fowl was 
especially noticeable ;)and a huge alligator, about twenty feet 
in length, swam across the river directty before the bow of 
the advancing steamer, f We stopped at one or two places 
during the first night, and in the morning reached the town 
of Calamar, upon the west bank. This stands at the mouth 
of a river, which, in a series of creeks and lakes, with a little 
artificial opening, extends one hundred and ten miles, with 
an average depth of eight feet, to the Bay of Cartagena.) 
The latter lies in a northwesterly direction, and accommodates 
the flourishing seaport of the same name. A small steamer 
makes this voyage three times each month, and, besides, there 
are some freight-boats, though Calamar is not of so much 
importance now as when Santa Marta and Cartagena were 
the only gates of entry on the coast, and all the imports and 
exports of Cartagena passed through it. Our steamer 
stopped an hour at Calamar, embarking and disembarking 
passengers, and taking on freight and fire- wood. Going on, 
we passed a number of villages whose inhabitants are devoted 
to fishing, the raising of cattle, agriculture, and the making 
of earthenware. 

We passed the town of Teneriffe on the east bank. Upon 
a. low hill is still standing a church built by the old Spaniards. 
<A.t Tacatoe, on the west bank, which we reached in the even- 
ing, the single stream of the Magdalena becomes two. Upon 



432 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

the northern one is the largest town above Barranquilla — 
Mompos. Upon the southern branch is Magangue/) For- 
merly the steamers took the northerly branch, but this part of 
the river, having greatly shoaled within the past two years, 
is now abandoned by the larger steamers. At Magangue an 
annual mercantile fair is held, which was of more importance 
when fewer articles were imported into the country from 
Europe and the United States. Beyond Magangue the River 
Cauca, the largest branch of the Magdalena, enters it. Here- 
about we found the country flooded for miles in every direc- 
tion. At a distance upon the left bank were some high 
peaks of the Andes, and nearer some beautiful ranges of blue, 
forest-clad hills. ^During the afternoon we reached the town 
of Banco^ and found the river once more a single stream. 
t The people in this neighborhood are largely devoted to cattle- 
breeding. Valuable cabinet and dye woods abound. The 
natives hunt alligators, and use their fat for house-lights. 
The Magdalena is full of eatable fish, some of them of as heavy 
weight as a hundred pounds?) Their great variety and quan- 
tity are one of the principal reasons why so many of the 
natives dwell directly upon the river-banks. They frequently 
catch more than they can dispose of, and then throw the 
overplus back into the river. With fish, yams, mandioc, and 
bananas, they require no other food. Fishing is also pursued 
as a business by those of the river-people dwelling near where 
salt may be cheaply obtained. They send the fish, salted, to 
other parts of the country. I have already referred to the 
great quantity of bird-life upon the river, but wild game, 
dangerous to man, also lurks in the forests, not far from the 
banks. Jaguars, pumas, tiger-cats, poisonous serpents, tapirs, 
deer, water-hogs, wild-pigs, are a few of the denizens ; but 
the more domestic monkeys, turkeys, parrots, and paroquets 
are also found. At one village jaguar-skins were offered us 
at the moderate price of a dollar and a half each. The great 
number of towns, villages, and detached huts much surprised 
me. It is said there are not fewer than fifty-five communi- 
ties between Barranquilla and Yeguas, most of them, how- 



A WEEK ON THE MAGDALEN A. 433 

ever, on the lower half of the river. Two classes of natives 
inhabit the country : those in the bank villages, and those in 
isolated and distant parts. (The river-people may be called 
more than " semi-civilized." In character they are amiable, 
docile, peaceable, and hospitable. Crimes against person or 
property are all but unknown among them. They are gen- 
erally clean — at least their bodies, if not their clothes. They 
are intelligent, considering their lack of advantages and op- 
portunities. Aboriginal Indians are found beyond the east- 
ern banks — between them and the Cordillera, about the lakes 
and creeks. They are savage, and do not, of course, speak 
Spanish. They will attack a solitary traveler, but are too 
cowardly to molest even a small party. The are very thiev- 
ish. They are, however, never seen upon the river, and 
very little is known of their habits and usages. They gen- 
erally prefer a wandering life. > At Banco we drew in to the 
shore, and tied up by a chain to a tree. The people of the 
town came, in great crowds, down to the bank to see us and 
to sell us something. The men, in white shirts and trousers, 
and great straw hats, formed one group ; the women kept by 
themselves in another spot, and looked very picturesque in 
their white chemises, gay-colored bandannas, and neatly 
dressed hair. The women brought for sale splendid pine- 
apples, bed-mats, and woven baskets. The boys bore great 
earthenware jars, eggs, and turkeys. As we proceed, the 
forests seem to increase in height and density, and I notice 
many large silk-cotton trees. ) But the forest is greatly want- 
ing in representatives of the palm, orchid, and liana fam- 
ilies, which add so much to the beauty of the forests of the 
Amazon and the Orinoco. 

[A range of the Andes on each side of the river is soon in 
sight, that upon the east, which forms a portion of the bound- 
ary between Colombia and Venezuela, being bold and high, 
with many fleecy clouds lying far below its summits. We 
arrive at a small village, which is the port of a city named 
Ocana, forty-two miles distant to the eastward. From that 
region are exported considerable quantities of coffee, hides, 

28 



434 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

sugar, hempen sandals, ropes, medicinal herbs, and sweets.j 
The river-villages are all of one pattern. The huts are made 
of bamboo- wattles, filled in with mud, and roofed with coarse 
grass. Great numbers of dug-out canoes are always seen 
drawn up on the banks before them. These canoes, some of 
which are very large, in going up-stream are pushed along, 
very close to the shore, by a long pole, with a double-pronged 
fork at its end. This method of travel requires about thrice 
as much time as a slow steamer. In going down the river 
the Indians simply take advantage of the current, without 
making use of any sail. The river here is about a mile in 
width, and full of enormous sand-banks, just appearing above 
the water, and upon which we see groups of alligators. Upon 
one I counted a score, the largest of which was over twenty 
feet in length. On seeing the approaching steamer they 
would either rise and waddle into the river, or simply slide 
off the bank. We stopped at a small village, whence a rail- 
way has been undertaken to the city of Pamplona, and thence 
to Socorro. Ultimately it is to be extended to Tunja, and the 
capital — Bogota. But, alas ! only one mile of this grand 
project has been as yet realized. An old locomotive, under 
a shed, and a few freight-cars looked very forlorn standing 
near the river-bank. I understood that a new company had 
just taken hold of this work and intended to complete a rail- 
way at least to Pamplona and Socorro. "We stopped one 
night at Puerto Berrio, on the west bank. This is the river- 
port for the wealthy mineral State of Antioquia, and gives 
entrance to most of the merchandise for the city of Medellin, 
which is about due west and nearer the Cauca than the Mag- 
dalena River. In population and importance it is the second 
city of Colombia. From Puerto Berrio begins a railway, 
which, it is expected, will eventually reach Medellin. Thirty 
miles are now opened to traffic, and the completed road will 
be about a hundred and twenty-five miles in length. The 
present one belongs to the Government. (The river at Puerto 
Berrio is scarcely half a mile in width, but is deep, and has a 
very swift current. The next day we passed through what 



A WEEK ON THE MAGDALEN A. 435 

is called " Angostura," or the narrows of the river, not more 
than three hundred feet wide for a distance of about a quar- 
ter of a mile. The following morning we arrived at Yeguas, 
just seven days from Barranquilla. At Yeguas passengers 
and freight are transferred to the railway for Honda. It is a 
narrow-gauge road,) with cars made in Philadelphia, Pa., and 
locomotives in Paterson, N. J. (It is twenty-one miles in 
length, and runs one train each way daily. ] J 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

THE ANDES AGAIN. 

(To the right of the railway, after starting from Yeguas, 
were many curiously formed hills, their sides being precipi- 
tous terraces of stone, with some verdure between the banks. 
Between us and the river, as we followed its course, though 
high above it, were many fine, grassy meadows, some of 
them covered with cattle. To these succeeded forests con- 
taining a large proportion of palms, and then we gradually 
descended and neared the river-bank, which we followed to 
Honda. Both sides of the river now showed high, forest- 
clad mountains. We crossed several tempestuous torrents. 
The Magdalena gradually narrowed until, oj^posite Honda, it 
was less than two hundred feet in width ; but here were 
rapids almost as swift and violent as those below Niagara 
Falls. The small steamers, which once a month go fifty miles 
farther up the river, do not pass through these rapids, but 
" tie up " some distance above. ) Honda is situated upon the 
steep bank of the western side of the river. Its streets are 
narrow, crooked, and roughly paved. The houses are mostly 
but one story in height ; when blocks of them occur, upon a 
street leading up the hills, they are built in terraces. (The 
railway goes on from Honda, about one mile to a settlement 
called Arranca Plumas, whence you must cross in a flat-bot- 
tomed boat and go on by land to Bogota.) Formerly a rail- 
way was undertaken from here toward Bogota, but, after a 
short distance, it was abandoned. Another, and a popular 
route to the capital, if you succeed in making connections at 
Honda, is to take a smaller steamer, up the river, fifty miles, 



THE ANDES AGAIN. 437 

to a place called Jirardot. Thence a railway is in course of 
construction to Bogota, about twenty miles of , its track hav- 
ing been already built and in running order. ( On December 
12th I left on mule-back for Bogota, with a mounted guide, 
and an extra mule for my baggage, first following the left 
bank of the Magdalena to Arranca Plumas. Here we crossed 
the river by means of a pedulum-boat— a large barge attached, 
by a wire cable, to a pulley running upon another cable ex- 
tending across the river.J The passage is made simply by the 
force of the central current and its back water, w 7 hich is suf- 
ficient to carry the boat from side to side without any steer- 
ing. The mount of a Colombian gentleman is but little 
different from that of other South Americans. (Mules are 
preferred for steep mountain travel, though horses are in 
greater favor for plain, valley, and city use. ) Here, in Colom- 
bia, the men wear wide-brimmed, steeple-crowned straw 
hats, blue ponchos, or ruanos, as they are called, generally of 
a water-proof dark cloth, and huge water-proof leather over- 
alls, which buckle around the waist, but are seatless. These 
are made longer than the legs, and thus keep the feet dry. 
A slit up the back of the leg, secured by a small strap, is 
made for the passage of the spur. The shank of the spurs is 
often four inches in length, with rowels quite three inches 
in diameter. ( The stirrups are made of brass, in the shape of 
a large Turkish slipper. The saddles are supplied with small 
leather saddle-bags, and a leather case for a blanket, or rub- 
ber poncho. Yery stout cruppers and breeching are necessi- 
tated by the steep mountains. 

The place opposite Arranca Plumas was called Pesca- 
derias. We followed the river for a considerable distance, 
but so bad was the road, from the recent heavy rains, that 
we were the whole day reaching Guaduas, but fifteen miles 
distant, stopping only an hour to breakfast at one of the 
many wayside inns. ) The walls of the public-room of this 
house were ornamented with pictures from the London 
" Graphic " and the New York " Puck." Every one of the 
road-side inns has a well-filled bar-room attached, where, as 



438 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

per advertisement, " superior brandy, wholesale and retail," 
is sold, and also the native beer, chicha, great calabashes of 
which are in frequent request by the muleteers. The inns 
are simply mud huts, with thatched roofs. They contain 
two or three bedrooms and a sitting-room, where not very 
good meals are prepared at very short notice. The country 
through which we passed was not thickly settled, and was 
covered mostly with timber. Guaduas is a large town, situ- 
ated in a beautiful valley. "We left it the next morning at 
daylight, and rode slowly up a steep range of mountains to 
the eastward. The road was paved with great stones in the 
steepest inclines, and wound altogether too abruptly up- 
ward for the comfort of either man or beast. On each side 
of the pavement, which was often of the nature of a cause- 
way, there was a morass, and frequently the trail was simply 
a great stone staircase, up which the mules slowly climbed 
with many slips and frequent groans. Our baggage-mules 
often would lie down in the bogs, quite exhausted. How- 
ever, we kept plodding along over a very rocky and muddy 
road, up one hill and down another, until we reached, in the 
afternoon, the summit of a range of mountains about five 
thousand feet above sea-level. From here we went down, 
far down, to the valley, in which is situated the town of Vil- 
leta, some twelve miles from Guaduas.) It rained hard most 
of the day, but, at intervals of clearing, Ave had splendid 
views of the green hills and beautiful dales, which were 
everywhere carefully cultivated, though sparsely inhabited. 
Corn and sugar-cane abounded, and much of these were 
grown upon the almost vertical sides of the hills. Villeta 
was like Guaduas on a slightly reduced scale. ; It rained hard 
all night, and in the morning I preferred to take to the road, 
rather than loiter in a dull inn. (The trail became worse, 
and our utmost speed was about a mile and a half an hour. At 
night we had only reached a place called Agua Larga, whence 
there is a very fine view to the westward, over intervening 
valleys and ridges, beyond the Magdalena Eiver (which was 
not in sight), past several ranges on the other side. The 



THE ANDES AG AW, 439 

view extended to the snowy range of the Andes, with sev- 
eral table-topped mountains — Ruiz among them — southward 
to the great cone of Tolima, eighteen thousand feet in height, 
and looking a perfect presentment of the world-famous Coto- 
paxi, a few hundred miles distant, in the same chain of gigan- 
tic mountains. Among many mountain views, obtained all 
over the globe, I must regard that from Agua Larga as espe- 
cially magnificent.) The valleys, at the time, late in the 
afternoon, were mostly filled with fleecy clouds, which rose 
against the sides of the ranges, and made their tops appear 
like green islands in a sea of milky foam. There, in the far 
distance, were the sub-ranges of the Andes, dark blue in tint, 
and above and beyond them the giant domes and peaks 
covered with snow — calm, majestic, beautiful, (in the morn- 
ing I left Agua Larga for the town of Facatativa, from which 
I expected to take a diligence to Bogota. In fact, the road 
from here on might have been used by carriages, being broad 
and macadamized, and not of very steep grade. This was 
my fourth day upon it. The ride is, as I have said, made in 
from two to four days, there being but forty-six miles of 
mule-back and twenty-one of carriage, thus making a total 
of but sixty-seven miles from Honda, which lies northwest 
of Bogota. Of the four or five mountain-ridges which I had 
crossed on this journey, one was sixty-live hundred feet 
above sea-level. Facatativa is eighteen miles distant from 
Villeta. It is a large and busy town. Steam thrashing and. 
grinding machines are in use, and the flour manufactured is 
of very fair quality.) At the time of my visit, it being 
market-day, the streets were crowded with people, carts, 
mules, and horses. The Grand Plaza also was a dense mass 
of humanity, and the appearance of the populace — the men 
with dark-blue ruanos and black-banded sombi^eros, and the 
women dressed in black — was most funereal. (^Omnibuses, ex- 
actly like those formerly plying upon Broadway, New York, 
run each day between Facatativa and the capital. They carry 
no baggage, save saddles and hand-bags. Missing the coach, 
I engaged, instead, a covered carriage with a pair of horses.. 



440 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

The road between Faeatativa and Bogota is very broad, 
and was once macadamized, but is now in bad condition, full 
of holes and quagmires. Pack-mules at present give place 
to ox-carts. The road was frequently bordered by willow and 
eucalyptus trees?\ The great plain, or savanna, of Bogota is 
very level, almost devoid of trees, but exceedingly fertile and 
well adapted for agricultural purposes, to which it is every- 
where devoted. It is surrounded by mountains, and extends 
from north to south a distance of about sixty miles, and from 
east to west about thirty miles. As upon the plain of Quito, 
so upon the plain of Bogota, agriculture flourishes, wheat, 
barley, and potatoes being largely grown. The pasturage is 
extensive and of excellent quality. Many cattle are raised, 
and their breed, as well as that of horses, sheep, and pigs, is 
of a high grade. While yet many miles off, we could see 
the cathedral and larger buildings of Bogota, that city lying 
upon the eastern edge of the great plain or valley at the foot, 
and extending partially up the sides of two hills, called Gua- 
dalupe and Monseratte. These are on the western side of 
the Cordillera — that is, of the most easterly of the great 
ridges of the Andes which extend through Colombia from 
north to south. The city is built upon such gradually in- 
clined ground, that it does not appear to good advantage 
from the plain. Its elevation above the sea is 8,665 feet ; 
consequently, though in the neighborhood of the fifth degree 
of north latitude, it is quite cool. The mean temperature of 
Honda is 95°, while that of Bogota is but 58° — a difference 
of 37°, which we felt very perceptibly. \ The situation of 
Bogota is probably as isolated and as difficult of access as 
that of any capital of like population in the world. I was 
twelve days on the route from the sea-coast, and traveled a 
total distance of seven hundred and five miles. Though 
apart from the world, Bogota is yet able to have news of it. 
We followed two telegraph-wires from Honda. The capital 
is not only in communication with other parts of Colombia, 
and with Venezuela, but with North America, and thence to 
Europe, by a wire which runs a little south of west to the 



THE ANDES AGAIN. 444 

only seaport of the country situated on the Pacific — namely, 
Buenaventura — whence a cable extends to Panama and New 
York/) In a pouring rain we drove through the narrow, 
rough-paved streets, flowing with rivers of water, to about 
the center of the city, where we found what was styled the 
" best hotel." If so, Heaven help those who are compelled 
to live at the others ! though a respect for truth compels me 
to admit that our table was good. My room, however, was 
small, dark, damp (being several feet below the level of the 
street), full of flies and fleas, and abounding with mice. My 
bed was as soft as the marble of a dissecting-table. For my 
meals it was necessary to cross the street, and pass through a 
grocery-store and part of a court-yard, to rooms just about the 
size of the small tables. A solitary door was the only means 
of admitting either ligbi or air ; so it had to remain open at 
night as well as day. ( In going to Bogota we met scarcely 
any one traveling, and but comparatively little merchandise 
in transit. When the roads are especially bad, all travel not 
absolutely necessary is intermitted. The Indians I met were 
stalwart men, and some of the younger of the women were 
quite good-looking. I was surprised, however, at the num- 
ber of middle-aged and old women afflicted with the goitre. 
It is said the Colombian Government expends over a hun- , 
dred thousand dollars a year upon the mule-road to Honda.j \ 
It would not cost more to keep a railway in order, and it is 
of the very first necessity for the development of the coun- t v 
try that such a railway should be immediately constructed. 
I have, however, small hopes that it will ever be built. The 
whole genius of the nation seems directed toward civil dis- 
sension and guerrilla warfare. Hence, while the people com- 
plain of poverty, they offer so little guarantee and security to 
foreign life and capital as to be quite unable to secure the 
presence and help of either. 

It was December, and the coldest month of the twelve in 
Bogota — a peculiar, damp, penetrating cold, which requires 
one's heaviest winter clothes by day and three or four blan- 
kets at night. The native gentlemen all wear black over- 



442 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

coats, or long dark-blue cloaks, with short capes, like those in 
fashion at Quito — this "conspirator style" seeming to be, 
and properly, in most favor at night. Long black frock-coats 
are fashionable here, and, in fact, the whole suit is generally 
of black cloth. Tall silk hats are also the mode, and, with 
the primitive surroundings, look almost as ridiculous as they 
did in Quito. The citizens need only black kid gloves — 
which they really wear in Quito — to complete a most somber 
aspect. The dress of the women, who may be seen early in 
the morning in attendance at church, is also all of black, as 
with those of Lima. They wear the mantilla of black cash- 
mere, heavily edged with black lace, and embroidered with 
black silk, around the shoulders and neck, and partly around 
the head. The dresses are worn short, and beneath them 
you may generally detect the presence of black stockings and 
little black silk slippers, or black kid boots. The ladies carry 
black parasols, and on Sundays little black prayer-books. 
They resemble their sisters of Quito and Lima, and some of 
them are exceedingly pretty. 

The city of Bogota lies upon such comparatively level 
ground, and so few are the large and prominent buildings, that 
when approaching it from the westward you notice only three 
or four distinct points, and one of these, away to the north- 
east, you are apt to imagine to be a lofty column in memory 
of — say, the great Bolivar. With its high shaft and circular, 
two-storied, Pantheon-like base, you have a very good copy of 
the Washington Monument (at Washington, District of Colum- 
bia), as originally planned, though not as finally completed. 
But you are thoroughly disillusioned on learning that the 
supposed patriotic tribute is only a manufactory of bricks, 
with its accompanying and very necessary chimney. Then, 
toward the center of the city, you see the great broad facade 
of the cathedral, with its twin towers, and to the right of this, 
again, the walls of the Capitol building, and beyond, the 
white-sided and red-topped dome of the church of San Carlos. 
Directly back of the city rise the precipitous hills of Mon- 
seratte and Guadalupe, the former about fifteen hundred 



THE ANDES AGAIN. 443 

and the latter eighteen hundred feet in height above the 
plane of the Grand Plaza. These mountains are rocky and 
treeless, though covered in parts with short grass. On their 
summits are little chapels, the one dedicated to Our Lord of 
Monseratte, the other to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Pilgrim- 
ages up steep mountain-paths are made to these on special 
feast-days. Between the two hills is a valley trending toward 
the east. Down it flows a mountain torrent styled the Rio 
San Francisco. Farther to the south is a second break in the 
range, and down this narrow, precipituous valley rushes 
another brawling brook, the Rio San Augustine. These two 
streams, after flowing directly through the city, where they 
are crossed by innumerable bridges, join their waters, and 
then run off to the southwest, where they join the Bogota 
River. In the course of that river, which gradually makes 
its way to the Magdalena, are the celebrated falls of Te- 
quendama, which I afterward visited. 

In about the center of the city is the Grand Plaza — the 
great square of the Constitution. It is a large space, paved 
with blocks of stone, now somewhat overgrown with grass, 
and containing in its center a small park of shrubs and flow- 
ers, but no trees save a few stunted evergreens. In the mid- 
dle of this miserable little garden is a handsome bronze 
monument of Bolivar, raised upon a marble pedestal. Upon 
the eastern side of this square stands the cathedral and its 
sacristy, approached by a wide stone-paved terrace. On the 
southern side is the large building of the national Capitol, not 
yet completed. On the western side is a block of stores, 
three stories in height, the sidewalks passing in front of and 
under the lower story, in the form of an arcade. And on 
the northern side are more shops. But, before proceeding to 
describe public or private buildings in detail, I ought to say 
something of the general appearance and character of the 
city. The houses are mostly built of mud, and but one story 
in height. They have huge iron gratings to those windows 
facing the streets. In the business part of the city the build- 
ings are of brick and stucco, two stories in height and some- 



444 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

times three. They are apt to have picturesque little balco- 
nies to their upper windows, but nowhere is any special archi- 
tectural taste displayed, and this remark will apply to public 
as well as to private editices. An interesting effect is, 
however, produced by the great diversity of house-fronts. 
The better class of residences have no especial quarter. They 
are scattered here and there, the best often being found in 
the meanest and dirtiest parts of the city. Some of the finest 
stores and dwelling-houses have the first story of cut yel- 
low stone and the upper one of brick. The principal busi- 
ness streets are the two running parallel north from the east 
and west sides of the Grand Plaza, and all the retail trade 
seems here to be concentrated within half a dozen blocks. 
In this neighborhood you find the banks and the post, tele- 
graph, and telephone offices. The shops are mostly small and 
dark, being lighted only by the open doors, and therefore you 
are not surprised to find the counters placed within a few 
feet of the street. The post-office is situated in an old con- 
vent. The Bank of Colombia has a handsome columned 
front. Near by is the building of the American legation, 
our country being represented by an envoy extraordinary 
and minister plenipotentiary. Bogota has no carts or car- 
riages. The streets are far too narrow and too badly paved to 
admit them. Carriages coming from Facatativa proceed only 
to some of the exterior squares, where you must descend and 
proceed on foot to your hotel or dwelling. Your baggage 
and, in fact, all goods for Bogota, are obliged to halt quite at 
the limits of the city, and be brought in either on mule-back 
or by porters upon trestles. Horsemen are, however, allowed 
in all the streets, though they may be said to be " con- 
spicuous by their absence." A few sedan-chairs, with box- 
covers, are in use for conveying ladies to fashionable recep- 
tions, or to and from balls at night. You find gas in the 
more wealthy of the private houses, but the streets are not as 
yet lighted by that means. In fact, the city is very badly 
and dangerously half illuminated by kerosene-lamps sus- 
pended by hide ropes from houses at the intersection of the 



THE ANDES AGAIN. 445 

streets. There is but one line of tramway. The cars, start- 
ing at the cathedral, run in a northerly direction through the 
city and suburbs, and beyond along the base of the hills, 
about three miles, to a little village called Chapinero. This 
line is owned by an American company, the cars were made 
in Philadelphia, and mules are used to draw them. This 
tramway is a very great success, and it is a pity there are not 
others in the city, and one also across the plain to Facatativa, 
should a railway not be built. Chapinero is a sort of pleas- 
ure-ground for the citizens of Bogota, and on Sundays and 
feast-days the cars are sure to be crowded, and the road 
alongside to be gay with native gentlemen on horseback. 
These people, like those of Quito, are extremely fond of rid- 
ing spirited horses. The latter have an easy gait — generally 
a pace — and consequently do not require very special arts of 
horsemanship. The ease of the riders, therefore, is not as 
difficult of explanation, as if more skill were required. At 
Chapinero, besides very many restaurants and drinking-places 
of various grades, a race-course, a small theatre, and some 
good baths are found. 



CHAPTEK XLIX. 

8ANTA FE DE BOGOTA. 

Bogota possesses a mint. It is a very plain edifice ex- 
teriorly, as indeed are almost all the public buildings of 
the city, but it is fairly well supplied with smelting and 
milling apparatus. Before the last revolution it was in 
operation under English supervision, and engaged in coining 
silver pieces of the value of fifty cents, and copper ones of 
two and a half cents in value. At present no work is in 
progress. In fact, you see but few coins in circulation, save 
five-cent pieces in nickel, and two-and-a-half-cent pieces in 
copper. There are, however, many small paper bills, of the 
value each of twenty and ten cents, also of one dollar, 
some of these being made in Bogota, but the better class 
of them by the American Bank Note Company, of New 
York. The paper currency is at present only worth sixty 
cents on a dollar. Change is so scarce that five per cent is 
charged for any amount above twenty dollars by the shop- 
keepers, while the banks prefer not to give any, even upon 
these terms. 

There are only two or three churches, besides the cathe- 
dral, of any very special interest. The cathedral is large and 
lofty, with a facade of yellow stone, cut from the neighbor- 
ing hills, but its towers are of brick and stucco. Its interior 
is very plain. The church of San Francisco has a very re- 
markable high altar, or rather it is the ceiling and walls of 
that part of the church about the high altar which are inter- 
esting. The amount of carving and gilding is quite surpris- 
ing. The whole wall is divided into great oblong sections, 



SANTA FE BE BOGOTA. 447 

which make frames for many large figures of plaster in high 
relief and brightly colored. The church called La Tercera is 
notable from the amount of carved wood-work, a dark-colored 
cedar, which it contains. All parts of the altar and pulpit, 
the doors, gallery, organ-case, the frames of the - pictures, 
•and the confession-boxes, are carved from this rich wood. 

The national Capitol is situated, as I have said, upon the 
south side of the Plaza de la Constitncion. It is a large, 
massive edifice, of two stories, with a facade of yellow stone, 
and in the center a double row of great stone columns, 
through which you look into a small court-yard containing a 
good bronze statue of a worthy Colombian soldier — General 
Mosquera. More than a million dollars have been spent 
upon this building, which extends the full front of the block, 
and more than one half its depth. The rear half it was in- 
tended to devote to a grand residence for the President, but 
this plan has, as yet, been realized to the extent only of a 
few feet of basement. The Capitol will be approached by a 
great flight of stone stairs, but on the whole it is rather a 
gloomy pile, and is still far from completion. It contains the 
Senate and House of Representatives, the offices of the Presi- 
dent and of the Secretaries of the various departments of the 
Government. At present there is but one House, consisting 
of two delegates from each of the nine States of the repub- 
lic. I attended one of its sessions, and found the delegates 
busy in forming a new Constitution and reorganizing the 
Government. Notwithstanding the late disastrous revolu- 
tion, people were openly saying that political matters were 
not satisfactory, that another revolution was imminent. And 
thus it goes with Colombia, as with most of the other South 
American states. Revolution succeeds revolution, business 
is paralyzed, the countries are impoverished, and society is 
disorganized. Said a native gentleman to me one day, ""We 
have here a population of about a hundred thousand — ninety- 
five thousand of whom do no work, but live upon the 
others ! " 

During my stay in Bogota the School of Fine Arts, 



448 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

which is domiciled in a barn-like old building, in one of the 
streets next the Capitol, gave a "first annual exposition." 
Besides the various rooms of the school, the National Gallery 
(to bestow a high-sounding name) was thrown open to the 
public, at fifty cents admission. The work of the students 
in the departments -of modeling, crayoning, and draughting 
was really meritorious. But of the remainder of the " expo- 
sition " I hardly know what to say. An enormous number 
of paintings of all sizes, schools, and ages, good, bad, and in- 
different, were huddled indiscriminately together in two or 
three long corridors of what seemed to be an old convent. 
Many were by native artists and possessed considerable merit, 
but the majority were copies and not original work, as was 
to have been wished. As is usual throughout South Amer- 
ica, in all governmental or public exhibitions, the military 
made a great display about the entrance and through the 
galleries. An entire regimental company was present. 
They were, like the greater part of the Colombian army, 
mere boys, and so small that the bayonet-tipped muskets, 
which they bore with them throughout the building, were 
generally about one third taller than themselves. The boys, 
though gayly uniformed, wore hempen sandals, into which 
their bare brown feet were thrust. All about the Capitol- 
entrance, during the day, you might notice a great many 
officers loitering, and chatting with passing friends. They 
were arrayed in the most butterfly style of uniforms — red 
trousers with heavy gold stripe, red caps very richly em- 
broidered with gold lace, and long, gold-fringed epaulets. 
You must not be at all surprised at the large number of 
officers you meet in the streets wearing epaulets with three 
stars, for Colombia is the paradise of generals. The rank 
and file of the army, and its totality of officers, number about 
the same There are actually 2,144 commissioned officers to 
3,000 private soldiers. There are seven marshals — general 
enjefe, considering the other generals, must be the equal of, 
say, a grand marshal of France — 106 generals, 167 colonels, 
and 492 captains. Thus, in the Colombian army, one may 



SANTA FE DE BOGOTA. 449 

compute, in round numbers, a general to every thirty men, a 
colonel to every eighteen men, and a captain to every six 
men ! This seems odd and humorous enough, though the 
Republic of Liberia surpasses even this in military absurdity, 
for its army consists of one battalion numbering 417. men, of 
whom 388 are officers ! The President's body-guard num- 
bers nineteen, of whom seventeen are officers. Moreover, 
in some of the counties there are not enough citizens to hold 
the offices, but in the others there are just enough to go 
round. 

The National Museum and the National Library are lo- 
cated in the same building. The museum is very small, and 
consists of a corridor of inferior portraits of the old viceroys 
and men famous in the politics of the country, and a long, 
narrow room filled with an exceedingly miscellaneous collec- 
tion of historical curiosities, of native timbers, of zoology 
and mineralogy, of Indian earthenware, antiquities, and 
numismatics. Nothing is of any absorbing moment, and it 
must be said that such a museum is of but little credit to the 
metropolis of a nation. The library I found much more 
interesting. It contains about seventy thousand volumes, in 
all languages and upon all subjects. It is classified first by 
language, and second by subject. In one department, how- 
ever, are kept the books on South America, in all languages, 
and about ten thousand in number. There are some fifteen 
hundred volumes on Colombia alone. The rooms are long 
and narrow, but with clear light and commodious shelving. 
This library is intended only for consultation, and contains 
a reading-room, which I found well filled with students. 
Near the center of the city is an astronomical observatory, 
probably the highest above sea-level of any in the world. 
The building, of brick and stucco, has a lofty spire, which 
gives it much the appearance of an old church. It is fur- 
nished with a number of instruments, none of them of very 
high quality or in very good condition. At present no astro- 
nomical work is in progress. A new opera-house, to cost three 
hundred thousand dollars, is nearly completed. Formerly a 

29 



450 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

great number of newspapers were published in Bogota, but 
some in opposition to the Government have been suppressed, 
and now there remain but four or five, of which the more 
prominent are tri-weekly and a small evening daily. These, 
of course, are not permitted to adversely criticise the Gov- 
ernment, and in Barranquilla and other parts of the country 
the press is also thus muzzled. To show the intolerance of 
the Government in this connection, there is a printed notice 
posted in a conspicuous place on the Magdalena boats, to the 
effect that no employe is allowed to discuss the politics of the 
country while on service, the penalty to be immediate dis- 
missal as soon as the offense is proved. This edict, though 
signed by the steamer agents, was made under official press- 
ure. There are but few telegrams in the Colombian papers, 
and but little (even of old) news from the rest of the world, 
so the editors have to resort to the easy-going method of in- 
serting, on the lower third of some of their pages, difolletin, 
or serial story, which is generally a poor Spanish translation 
of some popular though often very aged French novel. A 
bulletin of the day is generally published ; and, besides such 
important matters as the arrival and departure of the mails, 
and the names of the saints allotted to each day, the special 
drug-store which is to be kept open that night is invariably 
mentioned. The leading newspaper of Colombia, published 
at Bogota, is called " La Nacion," with the sub-explanation 
that it is a " political, literary, and news periodical, the organ 
of the principles of the regeneration." By-the-by, a " regen- 
eration " of some sort or other is always in progress in South 
America. The evening paper is styled "El Telegrama," 
though it never contains any telegraphic news. 

While at Bogota I paid a visit to the Tequendama Falls, 
among the finest in South America and most famous in the 
world. They are situated about twenty miles in a southwest- 
erly direction from the capital. They occur, as I have already 
6aid, in the Bogota River, into which, besides the two little 
rivers that flow through the capital, empty several streams 
from the eastern side of the plain or valley of Bogota, form- 



SANTA FE DE BOGOTA. 451 

ing altogether what is here called a river, but what we should 
rather designate by the title of big brook. Especially would 
this be its proper name in the dry season of the year. You 
must visit the falls on horseback, and the time required, if 
the roads are bad, as they are apt to be during a large part 
of the year, will be four or five hours. As, moreover, the 
gorge in which the falls are situated is quite narrow, and 
there is much rising mist, to say nothing of frequent rains, 
to obtain a good view it is customary to visit them very early 
in the morning. To accomplish this, you leave the capital at 
three o'clock in the afternoon, and ride about half the dis- 
tance, remain all night in a little village inn, and proceed at 
daylight to the falls. This was the plan that, in company 
with a friend, I adopted. Bogota is so compactly built as to 
have almost no suburbs. You come at once upon the great 
plain, and then follow a very broad road, inclosed by mud 
walls, along the base of the smooth, rocky, and grassy hills 
to the southwest. The road was enlivened by many great 
ox-carts, troops of freight-mules, and native horsemen mov- 
ing gracefully along upon their ambling, though fiery, horses. 
The road, owing to the recent heavy rains, was in a terrible 
condition. Our horses wallowed in the mud up to their bel- 
lies. Here and there were dismembered carts, without a 
wheel, or with a broken axle or pole, or mired and aban- 
doned. A number of native beer-shops were open along the 
road, and at all of them our horses insisted upon stopping, 
thus unconsciously informing us of the habits of their former 
owners or lessees. At last we reached the miserable, tumble- 
down village of Soacha, where we tried to sleep in a most 
wretched inn, but could not for the myriads of fleas. At day- 
light we resumed the road to the falls. We seemed to have 
been gradually entering a more or less level valley, lined by 
low hills. In the fields were some large herds of fine cattle. 
At distant points were great farm-houses, surrounded by 
eucalypti and willow trees. A few miles from Soacha we 
turned away sharply to the right, and soon entered an opening 
in the low ridge of hills. Adjacent was a commodious dwell- 



452 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ing, the property of a brother of the gentleman who owns 
the falls and the land round about them. Now we enter 
. private grounds, passing under a huge bowlder, a lower cor- 
ner of which has been cut away to make room for the road. 
At the mouth of the gorge are many very beautiful willow- 
trees. The entrance itself, lined by low, rocky hills, is about 
a hundred feet in width, and the Bogota River is here less 
than fifty feet broad. Even this breadth in its rapid descent, 
which here begins, is reduced to twenty feet by the great 
bowlders which limit its channel and obstruct its course. 
The road follows the river from here down to the falls, about 
three miles distant, being for long distances cut out of the 
cliffs. As you go down, the hills begin to be sparsely cov- 
ered with scrubby trees and pretty ferns and cacti. You 
see also handsome willow-trees bordering the stream. The 
river descends in a channel crowded with enormous bowlders, 
in the style of a raging, roaring, foaming mountain torrent, 
thus making a long series of magnificent cataracts. The 
water shows variously brown, yellow, and white. The trees 
are dark-green, the rocks are gray, the ferns and cacti of sub- 
dued tints, and the flowers of many bright colors. We pass 
some hills where the country people are mining for coal — 
near the surface, however. This fuel is of a very fair quali- 
ty, and is transported to market in the great ox-carts of the 
country. The gas used in Bogota is made from coal, which 
is obtained from the hills directly behind the city. The 
gorge opens and closes, and repeats the process again and 
again, until we reach the falls. Here the vegetation has be- 
come quite dense, the trees are of a larger size, and their 
leaves of a richer and glossier hue. The road leads on and 
presents fine views of the fall from below. But it is best to 
leave the path a little above, and descend to the head of the 
cataract. On each side of it are great bowlders and rocky 
walls. The brownish-yellow stream rushes along with a power- 
ful velocity and with a considerable depth, but not greater 
width than fifty feet directly at the beginning of the fall. The 
water first takes a slight plunge of about twenty-five feet, on 



SANTA FE DE BOGOTA. 453 

to a rocky ledge. From this ledge it makes one tremendous 
leap of six hundred feet to the bottom of the enormous cal- 
dron. In its descent it spreads out into a huge column, 
about a hundred and fifty feet in width and fifty feet in 
thickness. In this latter respect it had to me a different look 
from most of the great cataracts of the world. Seen from the 
side, it presented the appearance of a vast round, solid shaft 
of yellow water and white, spray. Though such a high fall, 
and with so much water, I was surprised that it did not make 
a louder noise, that it could not be heard a greater distance. 
The roar, however, must vary with the states of the atmos- 
phere, and I fear that the day of my visit was not propitious 
for the finest effect. A path leads from the top of Tequen- 
dama to the bottom, and, though steep and difficult, is not 
dangerous. I spent three hours there, and reached the city 
again at two o'clock, thus having made the entire excursion 
in less than twenty-four hours. 

On Christmas-day I left Bogota on the return journey to 
Honda, the Magdalena, and the Caribbean. I reached Faca- 
tativa at noon, and after breakfast went on at once by mule 
to a road-station called Chimbe, where I passed a horrible 
night, devoured by fleas and almost suffocated by vile smells. 
I went on at daylight, passed through Yilleta, and reached 
Guadnas at night. On reaching the summit of the ridge 
between Guadnas and the Magdalena River, I had magnifi- 
cent views of Tolima and Ruiz, standing out clean from below 
the snow-limit to their summits. The vista up and clown the 
Magdalena was at least fifty miles in length by twenty in 
width. It was exceedingly fine. In going up to the capital, 
I had lost all of this through rain, fog, and mist. I descended 
gradually to the level of the Magdalena, winding along the 
great wooded hills which border that river. During the past 
two days I found the road so much better, so much drier, 
than when I ascended the Cordillera, that I was able to reach 
Honda at five o'clock in the afternoon of the third day. The 
accoutrements furnished travelers upon the road between 
Honda and Bogota are most wretched, as are also the pack- 



454 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. 

mules. The riding-mules are fair. The road, as I have indi- 
cated, is very bad the whole distance from Honda to Facata- 
tiva — exceedingly steep, and full of holes and great rocks. 
The stone staircases, some of them rising at an angle of thirty- 
five degrees, ought to be seen and experienced to be appre- 
hended and appreciated. In ascending one of the steepest 
hills, the girth of my saddle broke, and I slid off the tail of 
the animal, which kicked viciously, but fortunately did not 
quite reach me. My mule also fell several times with me ; 
and when a mule falls, the road is indeed bad. In coming 
down, however, I bestrode a diminutive gray mule, hardly 
larger than a Newfoundland dog; but so remarkably sure- 
footed as not to slip once the entire distance. My saddle, 
however, was in such a dilapidated condition and of such 
cheap construction that I had to sew up its sides in order to 
prevent my mule from eating the straw with which it was 
stuffed. 



CHAPTER L. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

The Colombians have an extraordinary conception of 
business and mercantile habits and methods. At the post- 
office in Bogota one man sells postage-stamps of a certain 
low value only, another of a higher. This is not so bad as 
the separation of the office where you buy stamps from the 
office where you mail letters, which was the regulation in 
La Guayra and Caracas — in the former town at a distance of 
nearly a block, and in the latter city at a distance of several 
blocks. In Bogota accounts, at the chief hotels, are rendered 
in totals, without any detailed statement, simply saying that 
you receive to date the amount of your account, which can 
be examined upon the books of the proprietor. It need hardly 
be mentioned, however, that should you express a desire to 
examine said books, the proprieter would feel greatly insulted, 
to say nothing of the difficulty arising from your possible 
ignorance of the Spanish language, or the special style of 
book-keeping employed. Still another instance : the steamer 
which plies between Honda and Jirardot was detained more 
than a week beyond its regular date of sailing, in order to 
accommodate a certain general who wished to take passage 
thereon, and who, after all, changed his mind, and went all 
the distance to the capital by mule-back and carriage. Even 
the " regular mail " steamers are detained a day or two for 
any letters which the Government may wish to send, or to re- 
ceive any person of rank who may desire to be a passenger. 
Thus, neither post-office nor mail-steamer serves the public 
effectively. Exaggerated forms of address are the fashion in 



456 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

Colombia. Small boys are saluted by their elders as " Mr." 
and " Sir." A gentleman uses the same title to his lowest 
servant, and will even ask pardon of a beggar for having no 
change, addressing him as "Seiior." It is almost needless to 
add that these people are everlastingly bowing to each other, 
and shaking hands daily in the streets and elsewhere, as if 
they had not met for years. If friends have been separated 
only a week, they fall into each other's arms with great 
warmth, and very extravagant expressions of esteem and 
friendship. Not so among the women, and I especially grieve 
to add not so between the sexes. Though naturally inclined 
to think one's own country quite right about everything, 
sometimes one is willing to learn and practice a new cus- 
tom. 

The voyage down the river is at double the speed of that 
against the current, and much more animated. Sitting in 
the bow, we have a strong breeze, which, though warm in the 
middle hours of the day, yet is sufficiently refreshing to re- 
lieve high temperature. Our cargo consists of coffee, cacao, 
hides, bales of tobacco, and vegetable-ivory mats. At all the 
stations where we stop the crew buy and sell in a very open- 
handed fashion. They are especially engaged in laying in a 
store of things to sell in Barranquilla, such as earthen jars, 
straw bed-mats, cigars, plantains, boxes of jelly, skins of wild 
animals, hides, and fowls. All the crew, besides their regular 
duties, seem to find time for this trafficking, which they do 
on both the upward and downward journey. It is a cause of 
delay to the passengers, to say nothing of its iniquity, and 
should not be allowed by the company. We arrived at Cala- 
mar at five o'clock one afternoon, and could easily have 
reached Barranquilla at nine o'clock in the evening ; but, 
after having received some new passengers and their luggage 
— there was no freight — the captain decided to take wood, 
although there was a great supply aboard ; and this at last 
being accomplished, we heard that he had decided to stay all 
night, to attend a ball with his officers — or, as it was given out, 
to oblige some of the passengers. This was, to us, the last 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 457 

straw that breaks, etc. The majority, therefore, made so 
vigorous a protest that the captain suddenly changed his mind, 
and we started on, but had lost so much time that we did not 
reach Barranquilla until midnight. We left Honda seven- 
teen hours later than was intended, and during the voyage, 
although it was one of the " mail " steamers, we made fifteen 
wearisome stops for freight, and, notwithstanding our speed 
was double that of the upward journey, yet the time con- 
sumed was about the same. 

On January 9th I took passage, in another steamer of 
the " West India and Pacific Line," for Aspinwall, by way 
of Cartagena, Colombia. About a mile to the eastward of 
Cartagena, upon the extremity of a short range of hills, are 
still standing the massive walls, forty feet in height, of what 
was some years ago a convent. This may be seen a long dis- 
tance out at sea, and first acquaints the mariner with the 
proximity of Cartagena. Heading in toward the land, the 
towers, domes, spires, and walls of the city shortly appear. 
With the yellow buildings, the gray stone of the fortifica- 
tions, the background of green hills covered with grass and 
scrub, and the foreground of bright azure sea, the picture, 
lighted by a noonday sun, is very striking and quite Oriental. 
Cartagena is situated almost immediately upon the waters 
of the Caribbean Sea. Vessels, however, do not ordinarily 
anchor off the coast abreast of it, but sail or steam half a 
dozen miles to the westward, and enter a large bay, one arm 
of which gives deep water up to within a mile of the city's 
walls. The main entrance to this bay is at a comparatively 
short distance from Cartagena, but it was made useless to 
navigation by having been blocked with stones during the 
colonial war with Spain. We fire a gun for a pilot, and a 
negro, barefooted, and in only shirt and trousers, comes on 
board, being paddled out in a canoe of exceedingly primitive 
form. Nearly in the center of the entrance is an old fort, 
at present dismantled, as is another opposite, on the island 
to the eastward. These were built by the old Spaniards, 
of cut stone and brick, and their fair condition at the pres- 



458 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

ent day speaks well for the quality of their original con- 
struction. Some of the hills around the bay are cultivated. 
At about the center of the eastern side is the entrance to the 
canal, which leads to the Magdalena River at Calamar. The 
bay narrows as we pass two more small, dismantled forts, and 
soon after anchor near a fifth one, as broken-down as the 
others, and find, for our companionship, a Colombian gun- 
boat, an old bark, and a small English steamer. Cartagena 
is about nine hours from Salgar. Tug-boats bring us, in 
barges, a freight of coffee, ivory-nuts, and dye-woods, while 
we go ashore in row-boats. 

Although the place at which vessels lie at anchor is at 
a considerable distance from the city, yet there is plenty of 
room and of water, and, in fact, the harbor is the best on the 
northern coast of Colombia. Cartagena is situated at the 
northern end of the harbor, on a narrow neck of sand two 
miles in length. It is in the form of a peninsula, with the 
ocean, or Caribbean Sea, on one side, and the waters of the 
bay upon the other. On the mainland are great groves of 
cocoanut-palms ; within the city proper, which completely 
fills its walls, are only a few trees in some of the private gar- 
dens and court-yards. The city is about three fourths of a 
mile long from north to south, and half a mile wide from 
east to west. The walls which inclose this space are very 
solidly built of brick and cut stone, with gates, towers, and 
bastions. They will average, perhaps, twenty feet in height, 
and thirty in width. They were once fortified with about 
two hundred cannon, but at present are all but dismantled. 
The few guns still mounted are very old and rusty, and prob- 
ably quite unserviceable. The main part of the city commu- 
nicates with a smaller section by means of an elaborate stone 
gate, of very massive construction, which opens upon a wide 
ditch formerly spanned by a bridge. The latter was drawn 
up at night, or could be drawn up in presence of an enemy, 
as might be seen from the spaces left in the walls for the 
pulleys and chains. The city in general appearance much 
resembles Curacao, or Willemstad, though its commercial 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 459 

importance has declined, it is claimed, in favor of Barran- 
quilla. 

We remained only one day in Cartagena, and started 
early the following morning for Aspinwall, carrying one 
hundred laborers, mostly negroes, for the Panama Canal. 
During the day and night we crossed the mouth of the Gulf 
of Darien, and the next morning sighted the isthmus. It 
was the Point of San Bias, and from here high wooded hill- 
ocks, rising ridge behind ridge, extend westward toward the 
town of Porto Bello, and thence on, in low, smooth ranges, 
to Aspinwall. Observed from the sea, Aspinwall appears to 
sit exactly in the water. At the eastern side is what is called 
Coolie Town. Here also is situated the large, three-storied 
hospital. Upon my first visit to Aspinwall quite two thirds 
of the town had been burned, but now it seems to be mostly 
built up, and in a finer style than before. Prom the offing 
you notice no particularly large buildings, save the great ware- 
houses of the many steamer companies which do business here. 
Directly upon the sea, which is faced by a long stone wall, 
shaded by a large grove of cocoanut-palms, is a street of neat 
cottages — the best houses and the best dwelling-site of Aspin- 
wall. The town now consists of four or five parallel streets of 
wooden two and three story houses. The roofs are generally 
of zinc, but the remainder of the buildings is of plank. As- 
pinwall is simply a great lumber-yard, and a fire would prove 
most disastrous. In fact, if a fire ever got well under way, 
and was accompanied by a strong wind, nothing could save 
the town from utter destruction. The huge iron steamer 
warehouses would be a credit to a city like New York. 
Next to them runs a very wide street, one half of which is 
occupied by the traffic of the Panama Railway and the other 
by a good plank road. The sidewalk passes under the houses, 
in the arcade style of South American towns. Here are 
shops of every character, steamer offices, the foreign consu- 
lates, very many bar-rooms, hotels, and restaurants, and not a 
few gambling-saloons. Gambling, both here and at Panama, 
is carried on quite openly, and is a passion with all classes. 



460 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

The favorite games are roulette and baccarat. Aspinwall is 
a very mushroom sort of town, similar to what San Francisco 
must have been in the first flush of its gold discovery. The 
population embraces representatives of every class, from 
every nationality. The streets are crowded with people, and 
there is such a commotion as one witnesses in West or South 
Streets, New York. Prices are exceedingly high, and every- 
thing is on a silver or gold basis. The silver soles of Peru 
and the silver pesos of Chili, representing a United States 
dollar, the fifty-cent pieces of Bogota, and the smaller divis- 
ion of reales (ten-cent pieces), form the circulating medium, 
while American gold coin is always at a premium. Aspin- 
wall is connected with the rest of the world by three Eng- 
lish companies of steamers, and by American, German, 
French, and Spanish lines. 

Although on arriving at Aspinwall I had completed my cir- 
cuitous tour of South America, I determined to take another 
look at the canal, and at Panama, before leaving for the 
United States. Railway fares were not now specially high — 
having been reduced to ten dollars in silver — except for 
"through" steamer-passengers, who paid the enormous sum 
of twenty-five dollars, gold, as of old. I stopped at a sta- 
tion, about half-way across the Isthmus, in order to inspect the 
canal. A number of new stations had sprung up since my 
former visit, and all had grown very much. There seemed an 
especially great influx of Chinese shopkeepers. The Chinese 
are not worth much as workmen, being both sickly and idle. 
All these towns contained houses and stores similar to those 
of Aspinwall. Rarely now do you see Indian or negro vil- 
lages of bamboo and mud walls, with grass roofs. The train 
was full of both first and second class passengers, among the 
former many French engineers, surveyors, and superintend- 
ents. As regards actual progress on the canai, since my 
preceding inspection, I confess I could detect very little. 
What had been done seemed rather in the direction of 
increased accumulation of stores and supplies, machinery, 
tools, diggers, engines, and cars. The French settlements 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 461 

were largely increased in number and in size, and elaborate cot- 
tages and expensive hospitals had been erected. But not one 
tenth of the former number of laborers were at work, and 
the actual excavation of the canal itself seemed hardly a whit 
further advanced. Many residents of Aspinwall ancl Panama 
corroborated my observations, and appeared to think the canal 
in a " very bad way." They informed me that there was only 
enough money on hand to last about a year, and they thought 
it extremely doubtful if the company could float another 
loan. They said, moreover, that even if money and laborers 
were at hand, the canal could not be completed in ten years' 
time. 

In the elements of the cost of human life, the Panama 
Railroad was once unrivaled, but has now been distanced by 
the canal. The death-rate is chiefly from yellow fever, and 
is as high as one hundred and fifty per thousand. The 
Kroomen, or negroes, from western Africa, stand the hard- 
ships best, but the Jamaicans die like dogs. Not a tenth of 
the canal has been built, and the greatest and costliest part of 
the achievement yet to be done, the management of the 
Chagres River, remains. How stands the work to-day ? 
Three hundred million dollars have been spent. The stock- 
holders have on hand one hundred million five hundred thou- 
sand dollars' worth of machinery, one hundred and fifty mill- 
ions' worth of uncollectable claims against swindling officials, 
and fifty million dollars' worth of uncompleted canal. The 
further capital required is to be purchased, if at all, only at a 
perilously heavy shave. The Panama Canal must be regard- 
ed, therefore, as the most gigantic financial disaster of the 
nineteenth century ; for no one now doubts that the scheme 
has finally collapsed, and that the long dream of water tran- 
sit across the Isthmus is apparently as far from realization as 
ever. It could not have been otherwise with an enterprise 
that, as originally planned, and in favorable circumstances, 
would require the work of fifty thousand men for twenty 
years ! But, after all, is the canal worth building? Its neces- 
sity and use have been greatly overestimated and misstated. 



462 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 

The traffic between Australia and India, and Europe and 
America would pass through Suez rather than Panama ; and 
the trade of the west coast of South America with the east 
coast of North America and with Europe could never make 
a satisfactory return on an investment of probably one billion 
dollars. The canal, even if it carried all the commerce of 
the world, could hardly pay, at such a fabulous cost. 

I had intended to go from Aspinwall to Cuba, by way of 
Jamaica. But small-pox was raging in Kingston, and there- 
fore I should either be quarantined at Havana, or perhaps 
not allowed even to land ; for such detention is usual, under 
those circumstances, in certain parts of the West Indies. So 
I decided to take a steamer belonging to the " West India 
and Pacific Company," the line by which I had recently 
voyaged so much. Proceeding by their route to New Orleans, 
and thence to Havana, the time of transit, provided I made 
prompt connections, would be nearly the same as by way of 
Kingston. Returning from Panama to Aspinwall, I left for 
New Orleans on January 20, 1887. 

In order to assuage the solicitude which the sympathetic 
reader may possibly feel with respect to the celerity of my 
homeward progress, I may say that I had still before me 
miles and months of travel. Arriving at New Orleans, 1 went 
by way of Tampa and Key West, in Florida, to Cuba, and 
thence to Yucatan. There I inspected all the important and 
interesting ruins, with an experience the reverse of Sir Charles 
Coldstream's. Next I sailed to Yera Cruz and coursed 
through Mexico, descending the deepest silver-mine of Gua- 
najuato, and scaling Popocatepetl, the highest mountain of 
North America. From Old Mexico I took the railroad to 
New, and visited the pueblo of the Zufti Indians, in order to 
study their ancient and unique civilization. Then I ingulfed 
myself in the Great Cation of the Colorado River, one of the 
grandest curiosities in this curiously grand world. The Cyclo- 
pean Yosemite and the poetic Lake Tahoe of California sub- 
sequently afforded me very pleasurable delays. Afterward 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 463 

came the Yellowstone National Park, with its fifty geysers 
and ten thousand springs. The sequel to these were the 
chain of Great Lakes and Niagara Falls, sailing down the one 
and sharing the general frenzy to jump down the other. So 
to New York, the apple of the Knickerbocker eye, after a total 
journey in the three Americas of fifty-five thousand miles. 
I had been absent two and a half years. Wonderful to relate, 
I had not lost a single day through accident or illness. 

I sincerely hope that all the days of all my readers may 
equally be blessed. 



INDEX. 



Abdon Ahumada, Captain, 181. 

Acapulco, lonely voyage of, 1. 

Aconcagua, 116. 

Agua Larga, 438 ; view from, 439. 

Aguardiente, for fever, 15. 

Alameda de los Descalzos, 62. 

Alexander Selkirk, an, 11. 

All sorts and conditions of men, 130. 

Amazonian passenger-line of steamers, 
350. 

Amazon River, the, nature of the 
largest part of, 352; central part, 
356 ; description of, 35*7 ; craft upon, 
359 ; width of, 365. 

Ambato, town of, 22. 

Amenities of travel, 298, 299. 

Andes, the, 28, 39, 40. 

Aracaju, town of, 316. 

Arequipa, town of, 77, 78. 

Arica, town of, 102. 

Arranca Plumas, settlement of, 436. 

Asphalt, 398, 399. 

Aspinwall, distance of, from New York, 
1, 2 ; location of, 459 ; houses, 459 ; 
warehouses, 459 ; sidewalks, 459 ; 
gambling, 459, 460 ; prices and cur- 
rency, 460. 

Asuncion, city of, 160, 163, 164, 165, 
166; cathedral, 166; market, 167; 
female dress, 168; climate and cur- 
rency, 169 ; cemetery, 169, 170, 171. 

Autofagasta, smelting-works at, 103. 

Babel on shipboard, 115. 
Baccarat and roulette, 460. 
30 



Bahia, harbor of, 305, 306; city of, 
306 ; large negresses in, 306 ; sedan- 
chairs, 307 ; Government House and 
Municipal Hall, 307, 308; theatre, 
hotel, newspaper-offices, 308 ; tram- 
ways, 30S; churches, 309; library 
and hospital, 310 ; Public Garden, 
311. 

Ballivian, Senor Manuel Vicente, 93, 
94. 

Balsa, a raft or lighter, 47. 

Banco, village of, 433. 

Barbados, most important of the 
Windward Islands, 366 ; a sanita- 
rium, 368 ; well served with steam- 
ers, 368. 

Barrancas, town of, 401. 

Barranquilla, town of, 426, 427. 

Bartica Grove, 380. 

Bedrooms in Brazilian farm-houses, 
287. 

Belem, another name for Para, 344. 

" Best " hotel, 441. 

Blanco, General Guzman, statues of, 
403, 411 ; wonderful welcome to, 417, 
418; when and where born, 418; 
how educated, 418 ; how he rose, 
418, 419 ; Vice-President, 419 ; pro- 
visional President, 419 ; influence on 
education and public works, 419; 
revises civil, military, and penal 
codes, 419, 420 ; recalled by the 
people, 420 ; second term, 420 ; ex- 
tends boundaries of the republic, 
420 ; encourages national progress, 



466 



INDEX. 



420 ; improves finances of the coun- 
try, 420, 421 ; liberal policy, 421 ; 
his wealth, 421 ; his wife, 421. 

Bogota, situation of, 440 ; isolation of, 
440; bad roads near, 441; Decem- 
ber in, 441 ; dress of men and wom- 
en, 442 ; Capitol, 442, 447 ; chapels, 
443 ; Grand Plaza, 443 ; houses, 443 ; 
balconies, 444 ; banks and shops, 
444 ; carriages and baggage, 444 ; 
sedan-chairs, 444 ; kerosene-lamps, 
444, 445 ; tramway, 445 ; horsemen, 
445 ; mint and currency, 446 ; 
churches, 446, 447 ; School of Fine 
Arts, 447, 448 ; National Museum 
and National Library, 449 ; observa- 
tory, 449 ; newspapers, 450 ; no sub- 
urbs, 451 ; coal-gas, 452 ; hotel bills, 
455; trade with Barranquilla, 456. 

Boiling-down factories, 398. 

Bolivar, Simon, 403; statue of, 412; 
veneration for, 415; monument to, 
443. 

Bonpland, Aime, 204, 205. 

Brazil, a constitutional empire, 256 ; 
status in South America, 256 ; vast 
resources, national finances, and 
navy, 256 ; slavery, 263 ; slave re- 
volt, 263, 264 ; emancipation, 264 ; 
abolition of slavery, 264, 265. 

Breakwater of solid cement, 406. 

Bridgetown, roadstead of, 366 ; city 
of, 366, 367 ; streets and buildings, 
367 ; cathedral and public build- 
ings, 367 ; houses of English resi- 
dents, 368, 369 ; sugar-mills, 369. 

Bvigantines, 161. 

British Guiana, coast of, 370, 373; 
immigrants, 373 ; savannas, 373, 
374 ; sugar export, 374 ; sugar es- 
tates, 374 ; provinces of, 374 ; gov- 
ernment, 374, 375 ; gold-mining, 
382 ; exports, 382, 383. 

Buenos Ayres, city of, 152, 153, 154-, 
Plaza de la Victoria, 154 ; Congress 
Hall and Town Hall, J 55; public 



cemetery, 155, 156 ; villas and banks, 
156; theatres, 156, 157. 

Bullocks, how they are hoisted in Bra- 
zil, 363, 364. 

Butterflies, 182. 

Caccrcs, General, 51, 52. 

Cachoeira, a business center, 312. 

Calamar, town of, 431. 

Callao, town of, 49, 50. 

Camelotes, floating islands, 163. 

Campinas, coffee plantations at, 261. 

Cape Froward, 128. 

Caracas, city of, 407 ; statue of Blan- 
co, 407, 408 ; distance from La 
Guayra, 408 ; railway and coach- 
road, 408 ; location, 409 ; street no- 
menclature, 410; Paseo Guzman 
Blanco, 411; aqueduct, 411; mar- 
ket, 412 ; public buildings, 412, 413 ; 
University Library, 413 ; municipal 
courts, 413; Federal Palace, 413, 
414; portraits of Venezuelan patri- 
ots, 414 ; Teatro Guzman Blanco, 
414; Teatro Caracas, 414; Panteon 
Nacional, 415; National Museum, 
415; ladies, 416; public improve- 
ments due to Blanco, 416, 417. 

Caracoli, port of Honda, 427. 

Carrefio, Teresina, 418. 

Cartagena, bay of, 431 ; appearance of 
the city, 457 ; location of, 457 ; form 
of, 458 ; inside the city, 458, 459. 

Castilian language, ambitious attempts 
at, 10. 

Catching the ostrich and the rhea, 141, 
142. 

Cauca, the river, 432. 

Caxones, town of, 275. 

Cayenne, difficulty of reaching, 364; 
houses and other buildings, 388, 389 ; 
how laid out, 389; vultures, 389, 
390 ; streets, 390 ; dress of the wom- 
en, 390 ; French garrison, 390 ; 
gold-mining, 390 ; Cabbage-palm 
Square, 391 ; the Caserne,391 ; Place 



INDEX. 



467 



d'Armes, 391 ; Government House, 

392 ; semaphore, 392 ; brilliant levee, 

392, 393. 
Ceibo, port of Monte Caseros, 205. 
Cerro de Santa Lucia, 108. 
Chagres, the river, 5, 461. 
Chalmers, Mr. George, 276, 277. 
Chapinero, pleasure-ground, 445. 
Chica, a native beer, 438. 
Chili, 115. 
Chililaya, 84. 
Chiloe, 118. 
Chimbo, valley of, 42. 
Chimborazo, its appearance, 15, 21, 42. 
Chinese View, 247. 
Chinese workmen, 460. 
Choice of routes, 13. 
Christophe Colomb, town of, 2, 3. 
Chuquipoyo, altitude and atmosphere 

of, 21, 22. 
Coach-lines and horseback service, 

174. 
Coast of Peru and Bolivia, 46. 
Coffee interest, San Paulo, headquarters 

of the, 260. 
Coffee-tree, the first planted in Brazil, 

260. 
Colombia, United States of, 421 ; revo- 
lutions in, 44V ; army of, 448. 
Colombians, dress of the, 427; their 

conception of business, 455. 
Columbus and the Indian, statue of, 3, 

64. 
Column of the 2d of May, 57. 
Concordia, 205, 206. 
Consuls and vice-consuls, 136. 
Convict-life, a glimpse of, 291. 
Corcovado peak, 217, 218, 219, 220. 
Coronel, the great coal region of Chili, 

118. 
Corrientes, town of, 175. 
Cotopaxi by moonlight, 24. 
Country of hammocks, the, 351. 
Cousifio, Sefiora, 117 ; her immense 

possessions, 118. 
Curacao, capital of, 422, 423. 



Daly Falls, 193, 195. 

Deck-washing, 355. 

Delta of the Orinoco, 393, 402. 

Demerara River, course of the, 380, 
381 ; scenery along, 381. 

Domestic interiors, 262. 

Dom Pedro II., 239, 240, 241 ; inter- 
view with his Majesty, 252, 253 ; 
appearance, manners, and habits, 
252, 253, 254 ; memorable senti- 
ments of, 254 ; intellectual tastes of, 
255 ; biographical sketch of, 255, 
256. 

Donkeys, 17. 

Double palm-tree, 391. 

Dragon's Mouth, 393. 

Drunkenness, 99, 100. 

Duel, a, crushed in the bud, 200. 

Dutch architecture, 422, 423. 

Earthquakes, cause of, 40. 

Ecuadorian scenery, 43. 

El Cerro, 144. 

Elevated lakes, 80. 

El Respiroso, 403. 

Embroidered bed-linen in mud huts, 

199, 273, 274. 
Emperor's View, 329. 
Encarnacion, 180. 
Encouragement to colonists, 1 72. 
Engenhos, or sugar-mills, 341. 
Engineering, remarkable examples of, 

300, 302, 409. 
English steamers, 211, 428, 429. 
Entertainment, an African, 281, 282, 

283. 
Entre Rios, 269. 
Esmeralda, the, 61, 62. 
Essequibo, mouth of the, 379, 380. 
Exaggerated courtesy, 455, 456. 
Excavator, 6. 

Facatativa, Grand Plaza of, 439. 
Falkland Islands, 13*, 134, 137, 138, 

139; vicissitudes, 139, 140. 
Farm, a typical Paraguayan, 196. 



468 



INDEX. 



Fcira, 312. 

Female conductor, 105. 

Fernando de Noronha, a penal colony, 
342. 

Fiesta, 100. 

Financial disaster, the most gigantic of 
the nineteenth century, 461. 

Finger of God, 251. 

Fishing-raft, 309. 

Forest habitants, wild and tame, 432. 

Fray Bentos, town of, 206. 

Fuegians, the, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126; 
difference between them and the 
Patagonians, 141. 

Furna dos Morcegos, or Vampire Grot- 
to, 330. 

Furniture, singular arrangement of, 
331. 

Galapagos Islands, 10, 11. 

Gambling, 87, 404, 459, 460. 

Gardens, Mr. E. S. Rand's, 350. 

Gaucho, the, 178. 

Gavea, the peak, 247. 

Gendarmerie, 391. 

Generals, paradise of, 448. 

Georgetown, city of, 370 ; scene at the 
wharves, 371 ; variety of races, 371 ; 
how laid out, 372 ; Dutch archi- 
tecture, 372 ; stores and private 
dwellings, 372 ; tramways, 372, 373 ; 
churches and clubs, 373 ; public 
buildings, 376 ; the Public Building, 
par excellence, 376 ; Roman Catholic 
Cathedral, 376, 377 ; British Guiana 
Museum, 377 ; Royal Agricultural 
and Commercial Society, 377 ; jour- 
nals and magazines, 377 ; Philhar- 
monic Hall, 377 ; Government House, 
378 ; Promenade Gardens, 378 ; 
drives and promenades, 378 ; Botan- 
ical Gardens, 378, 379 ; climate, 379 ; 
Georgetown settlement, 379 ; con- 
victs, 380. 

Goitre, prevalence of, 441. 

Gold-mining in British Guiana, 382. 



Gold-washing, 384. 

Government work, 406. 

Goya, town of, 162. 

Gran Cbaco, district of the Argentine 

Republic, 162. 
Guaduas, town of, 437, 438. 
Guano, 72. 
Guayaquil, Gulf of, 11, 12; city of, 

13. 
Guayas, the river, 15. 
Gulf of Paria, 393. 

Hamacas, mention of, by Columbus, 
351. 

Hammocks on board ship, 350, 351 ; 
Brazilian mode of using, 352 ; mari- 
tal, 355. 

Hastings, an English garrison-post, 368. 

Hippolyte, a guide, 271. 

Honda, town of, 430 ; streets and 
houses, 436. 

Horsemen, Colombian, 437. 

Horse-races at Lima, 51. 

Hospital, the 2d of May, 58, 59. 

Hotel bedrooms in Brazil, 291. 

Huacho, town of, 49. 

Humboldt, Alexander von, his associa- 
tion with Bonpland, 204, 205 ; his 
sun-dial, 412. 

Iguassu, Falls of the, 193. 

" Illustrious American Regenerator," 
404. 

Imataca Mountains, 401. 

Immigration to the Argentine Repub- 
lic, 162. 

Imported ice, 387. 

Indian carnival, 99. 

Indians, aboriginal, 433. 

Inferno and Arcadia, alternate, 329. 

Iglesias, General, 51. 

Inn, a wayside, 273. 

Inns, poor specimens, 438. 

Insect pests, 19, 188, 189, 191, 192, 
451, 453. 

Iquique, port of, 102, 103. 



INDEX. 



469 



Iron knockers, 31*7. 
Itacolumi, peak, 293. 
Itaparica, cataracts of, 332. 

Jaguara, relics of an immense farm, 

2S8, 289, 290. 
Jamaica negroes, 3, 6, 461. 
Jatoba, village of, 330; how people 

live there, 331. 
Javari, the monitor, 25*7, 258. 
Juan Fernandez, 106. 

King of Rapids, 328, 329, 330. 
Koninklijke, West-Indische Mail-dienst, 
details about the, 383. 

La Brea, position of, 39V ; Pitch Lake 
at, 398, 399. 

Lafayette, village of, 270. 

Laforie, Mr., bis negotiations, 139. 

La Guayra, town of, 405 ; appearance 
from the ocean, 40*7; without in- 
terest, 40*7 ; seaport of Caracas, 
40V. 

Lake Titicaca, 82. 

La Paz, city of, 86, 8V, 88 ; altitude of, 
89 ; streets and houses, 90 ; Alame- 
da, 91 ; market, 92 ; flower-women, 
93 ; theatre, 94, 95 ; newspapers, 
95, 96 ; bank, 96 ; imports, exports, 
and mines, 96, 9V. 

La Plata, city of, 15V, 158. 

Las Tablas, town of, 402. 

Lava-like coast range, 48. 

Lawlessness of Jatoba and Piranhas, 
333. 

Liebig factory, 20V, 208, 209, 210. 

Life on a Paraguayan ranch, 198. 

Lima, city of, 50, 51, 53 ; cathedral, 
54 ; houses, 55, 65, 66 ; public build- 
ings, 55, 56 ; market, 56, 5V ; Na- 
tional Library, 5V ; public prome- 
nade, 62 ; Panteon, 62, 63 ; gardens, 
65 ; education, 6V ; climate, 69 ; di- 
versions, VI. 

Llanos, 402. 



Local travel, 356. 
Lopez, palace of, 164. 
Lota, 11V. 

Macareo River, the, 401. 

Mackenna, Benjamin Vicuna, 109. 

Macusi Indians, character of the, 
382. 

Macuto, village of, 406. 

Magangue, annual mercantile fair at, 
432. 

Magdalena River, the, 425, 426, 42V, 
430, 431, 436. 

Maiquetia, village of, 406. 

Manaos, location of, 360 ; most con- 
spicuous object of, 360 ; general 
features of, 361 ; water-works, 361, 
362 ; Botanical Museum of Amazo- 
nas, 362 ; library, 362. 

Maracaybo, city and lake of, 424. 

Margarita, Island of, 405. 

Marianna, town of, 29V. 

Mate-sipping, 202, 203. 

Meals in a hurry, 429. 

Melancholy nomenclature, 12V. 

Messier Channel, 119, 120. 

Mestizoes, 19, 20. 

Mills at Morro Velho, 283. 

Minas-Geraes, province of, 26V. 

Mine of Morro Velho, 2V8, 2V9, 280, 
281, 284. 

Missiones, province of, 180. 

Mollendo, a terminus, V3. 

Mompos, village of, 430. 

Monte Caseros, town of, 205. 

Monte Cristo, Countess of, 118. 

Montevideo, city of, 144, 145 ; cathe- 
dral, 146 ; Plaza, 146, 14V ; Prado, 
14V; opera, 148. 

Morro Velho, village of, 2V6 ; the mine 
of, 2V8, 2V9, 280, 281, 284. 

Mountains and volcanoes, 40, 83, 84, 
120, 121 ; Organ, 248, 251. 

Mountain travel, 14, V4, V5, 98. 

Mules, IV, 22, 23, 292, 454. 

Muleteers and cart-drivers, 2V2. 



470 



INDEX. 



Native hospitality, 18. 

Navy, the Brazilian, 256, 257, 258. 

Negroes, proportion of, in Brazil, 297 ; 

and Creoles, 382. 
Niagara of South America, the, 192. 
Nictheroy, town of, 303. 
Norte and Pampero, 151. 
Nova Friburgo, 302. 

Obidos, port of, 358. 

Ocana, city of, location, 433. 

Ocular flirtation, 148. 

Olinda, a dead-and-alive place, 340. 

Orientation, 410. 

Orinoco River, the, how it differs from 

the Amazon, 401. 
Orinoco Steamship Line, 400. 
Oroya Railway, 59. 
Oruba, Island of, 423. 
Ostrich-feathers, 130, 131, 142. 
Ouro Preto, town of, 293, 294, 295, 296. 
Overland routes, 113. 

Pacasmayo, ruins near, 47. 

Palmciras, health resort, 259. 

Palms, avenue of Royal, 232. 

Pampas, 158. 

Panama Canal, 4, 5, 6, 7 ; small prog- 
ress, 460; French settlements, 460, 
461 ; deaths caused by yellow fever, 
461 ; greatest financial disaster of 
the century, 461 ; was it worth build- 
ing? 461, 462 ; would one billion 
dollars have produced satisfactory 
results? 462; probable course of 
traffic, 462. 

Panama, city of, 7, 8 ; Isthmus, 8. 

Pao d'Assucar, 322. 

Para, city of, location and character, 
343 ; tramways and hackney-coaches, 
344; market, 344, 345; Botanical 
Gardens, 345 ; private dwellings, 
345 ; streets, 345, 346 ; business, 
346 ; climate, 346 ; opera-house, 346, 
347. 

Paraguari, village of, 173. 



Paraguassu River, along the line of 
the, 813. 

Paraguayan natives, 184, 185. 

Paramaribo, city of, 384 ; canals, 385 ; 
churches and cemeteries, 385 ; police 
and fire-engines, 385, 386; dress 
and appearance of the women, 386 ; 
intense heat, 387 ; Government build- 
ings, 387 ; public garden, 387 ; Co- 
lonial Council, 387 ; newspapers and 
circulating libraries, 388. 

Parana, port of, 162. 

Parana River, banks of the upper, 177. 

Pass, the Raiz do Sena, 249. 

Passport nuisance, the, 315. 

Patagonia, 140, 141 ; future of, 142. 

Paulo,Affonso, catan.cts of, 328, 329. 

Paysandu, town of, 206. 

Payta, town of, 45, 46. 

Pedra do Sino, or bell stone, 324, 325. 

Penal colonies, 11, 129, 342, 379, 380, 
388, 392. 

Penedo, town of, 317; streets, 317; 
newspapers, 318; currency, 318; re- 
ligious procession, 319, 320; theatre, 
320. 

Pernambuco, city of, 335, 336 ; busi- 
ness, 336; President's house, 337; 
School of Fine Arts, 337 ; hospital, 
337; House of Deputies, 337, 338; 
cemetery, 338 ; market, 338 ; Com- 
mercial Association Building, 338 ; 
private residences, 339 ; reservoir 
and watcr-wcrks, 339. 

Personal baggage, 4. 

Peru and Chili, war between, 60. 

Peruvian independence, anniversary of, 
50 ; currency. 60, 61. 

Pescaderias, opposite Arranca Plumas, 
437. 

Petropolis, town of, 248, 250, 251; 
imperial palace at, 254. 

Piabanha River, the, along the, 268. 

Piassabossu, village of, 316. 

Pichincha, volcano of, 38, 39, 40, 41. 

Piedade, village of, 251. 



INDEX. 



471 



Piranhas, town of, 323 ; poverty of the 
people, 324. 

Pirogues, 359. 

Pitch Lake of La Brea, 397, 398, 399. 

Pizarro, remains of, 54. 

Place des Palmistes, 391. 

Policemen in Santiago and New York, 
112. 

Poncho, the, 20. 

Ponte Nova, town of, 298. 

Population, between Barranquilla and 
Yeguas, 432, 433. 

Port-of-Spain, city of, 394, 395 : streets 
and houses of, 396 ; Government 
buildings, 396; Queen's Park, 396, 
39*7 ; Botanical Garden and Queen's 
College, 397 ; Pitch Lake, 397. 

Posadas, town of, 179. 

Postponement, a single passenger oc- 
casions, 334. 

Prairie fires, 402. 

Princess Isabella, 256. 

Proposed tour, 267. 

Propria, town of, 321. 

Puerto Berrio, river-port, 434. 

Puerto Cabello, town of, 422. 

Punta Arenas, or Sandy Point, town of, 
129, 130. 

Pyjamas, 387. 

Queluz, town of, 270, 271. 

Quito, city of, 24, 25 ; cathedral, 26 ; 
troops, 27 ; cemetery, 29 ; penitenti- 
ary, 30; Capitol, 31; President, 31, 
32 ; bells and bugles, 33 ; religious 
paintings, 33 ; European ministers, 
34; banks and currency, 35 ; native 
doctors, 36 ; outskirts, 37 ; education, 



Kacial varieties, 19, 20. 

Railway, to Panama, 4 ; only one in 
Ecuador, 16; between Arequipa and 
Puno, 78, 79, 80 ; between Valparaiso 
and Buenos Ayres, 114; longest 
straight reach of, in the world, 158; 



Pell system of, 302 ; expensive 
one, 408. 
Recruiting, unique method of, 150. 
Relics of Robinson Crusoe, 106. 
Religious parades, 12, 69, 70, 309, 310, 

319, 320. 
Requiem, grand, for Ferdinand II. of 

Portugal, 234, 235. 
Resume of travel, 462, 463. 
Revolutions, 447. 
Riachuelo, steam-frigate, the, 256, 

257. 
Rich mines of Venezuela, 402. 
Rio das Velhas, down the, 285 ; primi- 
tive life on the banks of the, 288. 
Rio de Janeiro, harbor of, 213 ; city, 
213-216 ; idleness and curiosity of 
the natives, 221, 222, 223 ; effect of 
the climate on whites, 224 ; summer 
residences of the wealthy, 224 ; yel- 
low fever, 224, 225 ; currency, 225, 
226; market, 226, 227; carnival, 
227, 228, 229, 230 ; Botanical Gar- 
dens, 231, 232, 233; Acclimation 
Square, 233 ; Cascade Grotto, 233 ; 
Misericordia Hospital, 235, 236, 237; 
Academy of Fine Arts, 237 ; theatre, 
237, 238 ; National Library, 242 ; 
National Museum, 242, 243 ; Astro- 
nomical Observatory, 244, 245 ; His- 
torical, Geographical, and Ethno- 
graphical Institute of Brazil, 245. 
Rio de la Plata, the, 143, 152. 
Rio Negro, the, 360. 
Rio Vermelho, the, 308, 309. 
River huts, two kinds of, 359. 
River people, more than semi-civilized, 

433. 
River villages, of one pattern, 434. 
Road to Quito, 21 ; between Honda 

and Facatativa, 454. 
Rocking-stones, 159, 160. 
Rodrigues, Dr. J. Barboza, 362. 
Rosario, city of, 160. 
Route, the Uspallata, 113, 114; choice 
of, 122. 



472 



INDEX. 



Royal Dutch West-India Mail, particu- 
lars of the, 383. 
Rusby, Dr. H. H., 101. 

Sabara, town of, 286. 

Saint Augustine, Cape, 342. 

Saint Roque, Cape, 342. 

Salgar, village of, 426. 

San Cristoval, palace of, 252. 

San Fernando, town of, 394, 397. 

San Geraldo, town of, 300. 

San Lorenzo, hamlet of, 183. 

San Luiz, a very ordinary-looking town, 
342. 

San Martin, General, monument to 
the memory of, 154. 

San Paulo, city of, 259, 260. 

San Salvador, now called Watling Isl- 
and, 1. 

San Sebastian, village of, 297. 

Santa Luzia, town of, 286, 291. 

Santa Marta, town of, 424. 

Santarena, town of, 358. 

Santiago, city of, 109; Capitol, 110; 
graceful monument, 110; Botanical 
and Zoological Gardens, 111 ; Ala- 
meda, 111, 112; theatre, 112, 113. 

San Tome, village of, 201. 

Santos, seaport, 265, 266. 

Sarmicnto, Mount, 128. 

Scenery between Para and Braganca, 
347, 348, 349 ; at the mouth of the 
Xingu, 353, 354. 

Sedan-chairs, 444. 

Semaphores, 392. 

Sefioritas, 13, 26, 65, 67, 68, 148, 149, 
416. 

Serpent's Mouth, 393. 

Serra da Boa Vista, 302. 

Serra do Mar, 266. 

Sierra Nevada, 424, 425. 

Silver statuette, 81. 

Siphonia elastica, 361. 

Smoking in Paraguay, 169. 

Snobbery, amusing instance of, 135. 

Soacha, village of, 451. 



Soledad, village of, 402. 

South American revolutions, 3, 4. 

Springs of petroleum, 394. 

Stamps, idiotic way of selling, 455. 

Stanley, harbor of, 134 ; city of, 134, 

135. 
Steep stone staircases, 454. 
Sugar-Loaf Peak, 231. 
Surinam, coast at, 383. 
Switzerland of Brazil, 251. 

Tacatoe, village of, 431. 

Teneriffe, town of, 431. 

Tequendama Falls, the, 450 ; location, 
450; how to reach them, 451; de- 
scent of six hundred feet, 453. 

fheresopolis, town of, 251. 

Thorndike, Mr. J. M., 76, 77. 

Through-express routes, absence of, in 
South America, 195, 200. 

Thunder-shower, a terrific, 273. 

Tierra del Fuego, 127, 129, 131, 132. 

Tijuca, peak of, 246, 247. 

Time and distance, how estimated by 
Brazilians, 296. 

Tclima, great cone of, 439. 

Tortuga, Island of, 405. 

Traipu, town of, 322. 

Travel, in the Rio Plate countries, 178; 
concluding summary of, 462, 463. 

Trinidad, Island of, 394. 

Tupi Indians, 187, 188. 

Tussock -grass, 138. 

Uruguay River, the, 201, 202. 
Uruguayana, town of, 205. 
Uruguayan soldiers, 150. 

Vai-vem, what it is, 328. 

Valencia, city of, 422. 

Valparaiso, city of, 104 ; cosmopolitan 

aspect of, 105 ; sunset view of, 

116. 
Vampire Grotto, 330. 
Vaqueiro, a, and his family, 327. 
Venezuela, the Coney Island of, 406 ; 



INDEX. 



473 



one of the richest countries in South 
America, 421. 

Venezuelan veneration for Simon Boli- 
var, 415. 

Vessels between Port-of-Spain and Bol- 
ivar, 400. 

Victoria Regia, 378, 379. 

Villeta, town of, 438. 

Vingt-et-un, 404. 

Vino del Mar, 107. 

Volcano of Pichincha, 38, 39, 40, 41. 

Voyage, an expensive, 9. 

Washington, George, statue of, in Ca- 
racas, 417. 



Wellington Island, 119. 
Whyte's Hotel, 245, 246. 
Willemstad, 422, 423. 

Xingu River, the mouths of, 353, 
356. 

Yahgans and Onas, savages, 132. 
Yeguas, village of, 435. 
Yellow fever, 3, 224, 225. 
Yerba-mate, 202, 203. 

Zigzag, what it is, 409. 



THE END. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

In and Out of Central America ; and other 

Sketches and. Studies of Travel. By Frank Vin- 
cent. With Maps and Illustrations. 12mo, ornamental 
cloth. Price, $2.00. 



CRITICAL ESTIMATES. 

" A most charming kaleidoscopic view of those uneasy republics. It is timely, 
now that the great Pan-American Congress has specially drawn the attention of the 
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can Confederacy in twain by a ship-canal. While the political aspects in that re- 
gion are continually changing, the general social features remain the same. It is 
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" The author is a remarkably thorough, observant, and accomplished traveler. 
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" The information your book gives of the Central American states is opportune 
and useful in our relations to that region. I should hope that your book might find 
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" A book which has special attractions at the present time, as in it Frank Vin- 
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are the scenes of so much disturbance and revolutionary trouble, but which, when 



IN AND OUT OF CENTRAL AMERICA, 



he visited them, were seen at their hest. This work admirably sustains the repu- 
tation as a writer of travel that Mr. Vincent has deservedly obtained." — New York 
Observer. 

" Just at this time a large attention is being directed to the Central American 
states, and the intelligent reader will be deeply interested in the fine descriptions, 
as well as the clear insight given regarding the people." — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 

" He is one of the few living travelers whose books may always be accepted on 
trust. He is a trained observer, who sees everything, gathers a mass of interesting 
facts in a short jaunt through a country, and finally reproduces all he has seen and 
heard in charming style for the benefit of his readers." — The Chronicle (San 
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" Mr. Frank Vincent's books of travel merit to be ranked among the very best, 
not only for their thoroughness, but for the animation of their narrative and the skill 
with which he fastens upon his reader's mind the impression made upon him by 
his voyagings." — Evening Gazette (Boston). 

" Journeys like yours result in important contributions to our knowledge of the 
world." — Bayard Taylor. 

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"Mr. Vincent is acknowledged to be one of the most brilliant and judicious of 
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" The man who within eleven years has traveled two hundred and sixty -five 
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Bayard Taylor during his whole lifetime) ; who has made one hundred and fifty 
voyages, now circumnavigating the earth, now going as far north as latitude sev- 
enty-five degrees, and now as far south as latitude sixty-five degrees ; who has 
taken nine trips through the tropics ; stayed in five hundred hotels scattered pro- 
miscuously over the world, and become intimate with at least one thousand foreign- 
era ; who counts among his social experiences audiences and interviews with four 
emperors, two empresses, five kings, two queens, two princes imperial, four maha- 
rajahs, and three viceroys — the man who has done all this voluntarily, and expended 
a fortune in doing it, deserves to be called a ' born traveler.' Such a man is Mr. 
Frank Vincent, who has recently returned to Mew York after three years of travel 
and investigation in South and Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies." — 
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For sale by all booksellers ; or, sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price, by 
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